1st W. gull ID ,Nova Scotia, 11/2006 (1 Viewer)

I have been going through some old photos, and I had labeled this as a Ring-billed. But I think it might be a Common, based on the small rounded head and small bill. Taken at a lake in Dartmouth, NS, Canada, where RB are common but Common/ Mew is an annual vagrant, Nov. 2006. Any comments on which, and why?

Thanks, Richard

I would say Mew Gull.

aeshna5 said:

I would say Mew Gull.

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Mew Gull (Larus [canus] brachyrhynchus) or Common Gull (Larus canus canus)?

Richard, your initial label was correct!

JanJ

JANJ said:

Richard, your initial label was correct!

JanJ

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Have to agree. I don't claim to be an expert on North American Mew Gull (L c brachyrhynchus), but if I'd seen this in a European context, whilst being struck by its small bill, I'd still be suspecting Ring-billed because of the following:

Pointed centres to median coverts
Barred greater coverts
Thin white fringes to the tertials
Grey mantle is heavily barred and fringed with brown and pale edges
Heavily spotted head and neck/breast

I have no experience of the North American race of Common Gull (Mew Gull), but from what I have read, they typically have a brown wash to the grey mantle feathers, and in fact they have a generally brown wash all over, which gives a less contrasty overall impression than 1cy European Common Gull. They also have a grey-brown tail band which lacks the contrast of either European Common Gull or Ring-billed Gulls, unlike Richard's bird here. Mew gulls also typically have very short bills (quite slim in this bird, but you couldn't describe it as short).

Taking these points into consideration, you have to look back to Ring-billed as a real possibility here, presumably a small female type.

Thanks

Thanks folks. Richard

Always hard to judge with exposure levels, but aren't the new grey mantle feathers a bit dark for Ring-billed?

I dont think its clever to tackle the ID of this gull from an european point of view.

This gull would clearly stand out in a flock of Common Gulls in Europe by the following points:

round, stocky appearance with short, plump, short-winged rear end

slightly thicker bill than normal with parallel edges (but I think still within the variation of canus. I have seen Common Gulls with stronger bills before, but everytime I thought this might be a Ring billed Gull it turned out to be a Common Gull. So this might be on more example of this)

unusual hazel brown colour of the wing coverts and the shape of the dark centers

barring on the undertailcoverts (Common Gull with markings there have a different pattern)

While it is true that most first winter canus in western Europe have a uniform grey mantel, the situation in NE Germany (Baltic coast and near the polish boarder) is slightly different: many birds there lack this uniformity as they show retained juvenile feathers and/or first winter feathers with dark markings or paler edges (last ones mentioned as heinei-characters by Peter Adriaens and Chris Gibbins in their Dutch Birding paper)
See for example this bird, a possible heinei, taken in Prenzlau: https://www.ornitho.lu/index.php?m_id=54&mid=357250 or https://flic.kr/s/aHskqnP6AA, or the attached bird, taken in Schwedt/Oder.


Would I say that this bird is a Ring Billed Gull? No, I havent seen this species or the other relevant taxa Short-billed Gull or kamtschatschensis.
I just wanted to say that this bird would look (slightly) odd for a nominate canus Common Gull.

I also think that Nutcracker is right regarding the darkness of the mantel. In this respect, this bird wouldnt stand out in a flock of canus in Europe.

I assume that you dont have pictures of this bird showing the tail pattern more clearly?

Ring-billed Gull for me.
The pattern on the tertials and wing-coverts (the latter with distinct brown 'anchors') is quite unequivocal.