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large gulls goa (1 Viewer)
- Thread starter binus1963
- Start date
lou salomon
the birdonist
hi binus,
the default large gull taxa (apart from great black-headed) occuring in goa are barabensis and (less common) heuglini/taimyrensis. maybe some cachinnans stray down there also, i don't know. these are very hard to separate if not seen well, i.e. a good view on upperparts to evaluate wear and moult state: heuglini as the northern (tundra) species usually being still in juvenile plumage or having replaced a smaller amount of scapulars while barabensis (steppe gull) should be more advanced in moult with most birds having replaced some wing coverts by beginning of winter.
bird 1: can't ID this but probably is a barabensis. bill like in cachinnans (but shared by barabensis and heuglini...)
birds 2 (pic3): on paler inner primaries i'd suggest barabensis over heuglini
bird 3: overall dark, esp. inner primaries and apparently mostly juvenile scapulars should make this a heuglini or taimyrensis.
cheers
the default large gull taxa (apart from great black-headed) occuring in goa are barabensis and (less common) heuglini/taimyrensis. maybe some cachinnans stray down there also, i don't know. these are very hard to separate if not seen well, i.e. a good view on upperparts to evaluate wear and moult state: heuglini as the northern (tundra) species usually being still in juvenile plumage or having replaced a smaller amount of scapulars while barabensis (steppe gull) should be more advanced in moult with most birds having replaced some wing coverts by beginning of winter.
bird 1: can't ID this but probably is a barabensis. bill like in cachinnans (but shared by barabensis and heuglini...)
birds 2 (pic3): on paler inner primaries i'd suggest barabensis over heuglini
bird 3: overall dark, esp. inner primaries and apparently mostly juvenile scapulars should make this a heuglini or taimyrensis.
cheers
