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Yellow Legged Gull (1 Viewer)

How many of these 'herring'-type gulls are currently recognised as being on the British list? (Is there an on-line list of 'British' birds that includes sub-species?) I've just bought Olsen and Larsson but it's a pretty mind-boggling book!
 
Surreybirder said:
How many of these 'herring'-type gulls are currently recognised as being on the British list? (Is there an on-line list of 'British' birds that includes sub-species?) I've just bought Olsen and Larsson but it's a pretty mind-boggling book!
Click to expand...

Herring Gull (both the resident argenteus and argentatus)
Yellow-legged Gull (michahellis, and I think there are no presently accepted records as yet of atlantis? Some records of the latter have been accepted here in Ireland)
Caspian Gull
American Herring Gull

No accepted records of vegae, mongolicus, barabensis etc that I am aware of.
 
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Surreybirder said:
Thanks, Harry,
What about heuglini?
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Sorry, was treating heuglini as a Lesser Black-backed type (your question specified Herring types)! That's not on the British list either, and, given the extent of variation within graellsii, I think it would take a ringing recovery at this stage to get the taxon accepted.
 
Harry Hussey said:
Sorry, was treating heuglini as a Lesser Black-backed type (your question specified Herring types)! That's not on the British list either, and, given the extent of variation within graellsii, I think it would take a ringing recovery at this stage to get the taxon accepted.
Click to expand...

Thanks, Harry. I guess I was treating 'herring' in a rather liberal way. Back in the dark ages, when I started birding, herring/lesser bb were given as an example of a 'ring species' that gradually changed as it went around the world until the two 'ends' were different species. I'm not sure that the concept of a ring species has survived all the various taxonomic debates!
At least I know not to spend too much time looking out for heuglini round Surrey!

I've now had the chance to read the Ibis paper. Their taxonomic recommendations (=decisions?) are quite different from those of Olsen and Larsson. E.g. vegae becomes a sub-species of American Herring Gull (Larus smithsonianus) and barbarensis becomes a sub-species of Lesser bb gull (L fuscus). I wonder where it will all end? In the meantime, it seems as if you have to identify most of the large gulls to sub-species level to be sure of keeping track of which species you have seen at any given time!
Ken
 
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I'm just glad I don't bother with subspecies.
It's hard enough sorting out Gulls at Species level!
Alan
 
Hammouda et al

Hammouda, Hamza, Ayadi, Pearce-Duvet & Selmi (in press). Assortative mating for carotenoid colouration but not size in the Yellow-legged Gull Larus michahellis. Bird Study. [abstract]
 
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