Dean Nicholson
Cloacal Protuberant.
Well ok then, maybe not as concrete as the header suggests but still a bloody good shout i reckon...
Compared to nearby canus it differed in the following:
* Larger size, especially head and bill but also longer wings which it seemed to hold slightly raised up banana style - jizz wise it was almost more like a small female type Caspian Gull than a Common Gull. Head profile more sloped.
* pale iris (appreciated best on heavily cropped attachment) and bright yellow bill with black band almost giving off a Ring-billed look at times, It had by far the brightest bill and iris on the lake (amongst c100 canus)
* white headed appearance - this was what first attracted my attention, just a few faint spots around the nape and few very fine, almost pencil thin streaks on crown but at range looked all white, all other canus present had well streaked heads (and breast sides on many) and as a result made the subject bird stand out markedly
* I never managed to see an open wing clearly but on a preen p10 looked to have little or no visible tongue which would also be a nice fit for heinei (whilst not totally excluding canus of course)
* Mantle tone was disappointingly close to nearby canus but this isn't too problematic as westernmost breeding heinei overlap with canus in this respect
* Rather small spots to primary tips (for an adult)
Obviously a canus could show all these features at some stage but surely it would be unusual for a single bird to show all these characters and render itself so distinctive amongst its congeners?
It's often speculated that heinei is a frequent visitor to Britain in winter and is just being overlooked, and that might well be the case but i've been looking for birds like this for a few years now and really haven't seen that many candidates to support this?
Cheers
Dean
Compared to nearby canus it differed in the following:
* Larger size, especially head and bill but also longer wings which it seemed to hold slightly raised up banana style - jizz wise it was almost more like a small female type Caspian Gull than a Common Gull. Head profile more sloped.
* pale iris (appreciated best on heavily cropped attachment) and bright yellow bill with black band almost giving off a Ring-billed look at times, It had by far the brightest bill and iris on the lake (amongst c100 canus)
* white headed appearance - this was what first attracted my attention, just a few faint spots around the nape and few very fine, almost pencil thin streaks on crown but at range looked all white, all other canus present had well streaked heads (and breast sides on many) and as a result made the subject bird stand out markedly
* I never managed to see an open wing clearly but on a preen p10 looked to have little or no visible tongue which would also be a nice fit for heinei (whilst not totally excluding canus of course)
* Mantle tone was disappointingly close to nearby canus but this isn't too problematic as westernmost breeding heinei overlap with canus in this respect
* Rather small spots to primary tips (for an adult)
Obviously a canus could show all these features at some stage but surely it would be unusual for a single bird to show all these characters and render itself so distinctive amongst its congeners?
It's often speculated that heinei is a frequent visitor to Britain in winter and is just being overlooked, and that might well be the case but i've been looking for birds like this for a few years now and really haven't seen that many candidates to support this?
Cheers
Dean