• Welcome to BirdForum, the internet's largest birding community with thousands of members from all over the world. The forums are dedicated to wild birds, birding, binoculars and equipment and all that goes with it.

    Please register for an account to take part in the discussions in the forum, post your pictures in the gallery and more.
ZEISS DTI thermal imaging cameras. For more discoveries at night, and during the day.

Large gull, Mai Po HK, 23rd Feb (1 Viewer)

kb57

Well-known member
Europe
Saw a few immature large gulls in HK last month, but didn't think I'd managed to get a photo - managed to extract these images (same bird possibly) from pics I took of a large flock of black-headed gulls - very heavily cropped so apologies for quality.
Presume 2cy? - Birds of HK and S China suggests Heuglin's or possibly mongolicus but I'd appreciate some advice - thanks!
 

Attachments

  • Large gull Mai Po_00022.jpg
    Large gull Mai Po_00022.jpg
    151.2 KB · Views: 123
  • Large gull Mai Po_00023.jpg
    Large gull Mai Po_00023.jpg
    168.4 KB · Views: 95
Definitely not Black-tailed.

Which LWHG is harder - and liable to be superseded by new taxonomy next week, and changed again the week after that!

Heuglin's is the most likely by dint of being the most abundant by at least one orgder of magnitude.

Cheers
Mike
 
Can Black-tailed be ruled out?

Not sure Mongolian or Heuglin's would have that bill pattern at this age?

Definitely not Black-tailed.

Which LWHG is harder - and liable to be superseded by new taxonomy next week, and changed again the week after that!

Heuglin's is the most likely by dint of being the most abundant by at least one orgder of magnitude.

Cheers
Mike

Thanks Andy & Mike for having a go at this. I saw definite Black-tailed later that trip in Japan, but to be honest didn't have a clue what the immature gulls I saw first were until I saw some adults.

I'll go with Mike's local knowledge and put it down as 'probable' Heuglin's, while realising East Asian gulls are a taxonomic minefield!
 
Warning! This thread is more than 5 years ago old.
It's likely that no further discussion is required, in which case we recommend starting a new thread. If however you feel your response is required you can still do so.

Users who are viewing this thread

Back
Top