• 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.

Gull ID (1 Viewer)

Reader

Well-known member
Dear all

I am new into this forum and I hope that I am doing all the right things to get this thread on. The site looks more complicated than other sites I have used so I hope someone will pass on any advice to me that will help me use this site properley. I don't understand quite a bit of the jargon on this site such as post a poll etc so help will definitely be needed.

I noticed the site in the Bird Watching magazine and have only just decided to see what it is all about. I have a gull ID problem that hopefully someone might be able to help out with.

I have just come back from a two week holiday from mainland Greece and need help with a Gull I.D if it is possible. (My trip report will appear on the Birdtours.co.uk site shortly if anyone is interested. I have quite a few trip reports on this site already from Scotland to many parts of Europe)

The gull in question was found on the Rodia Lagoon (near Prevesa, north west Greece) at 13:30 on 04/10/02 and we watched it for over an hour. Unfortunately for the whole time the sun was shining directly onto the water in front of us and we had to catch snatches of the bird in shaded areas to gather the info I have.

I found it amongst 4 Black headed gulls and almost dismissed it as another one of them as it had the familiar black spot just back of the eye but looking at it again the jizz of the bird didn't look right. The neck was more slender and longer. The beak was long and slender without any black on it. The eye was yellow with the centre being a small black spot. The face had a cutish look about it whereas the B.H.gull doesn't. Thin black tail bar. Legs seemed longer and thinner than the B.H.Gull (for a while it stood on a small rock) and they were a very light orange to yellow in colour. When at rest in the water the wings protruded well back from the tail and lay in a scissor formation and seemed to have blackish wing tips. Unfortunately each time it flapped its wings the sun blotted out any chance of me really looking at the underwing or any part of the upper wing. When at rest the wing feathers looked almost whitish and very fluffy (that is the best I can describe them). There were minor darkish blotches, amongst the wing feathers) which made me think that the bird could be a juvenile. The black spot on the head was about two inches from the eye but didn't look as black as the B.H.Gulls spot (it was possibly further back on the head as well). The bird had a more compact look about it than the B.H.gull but looked slightly longer in length than the B.H.Gull. It kept on dipping into the water like a duck would (upended rear end). It would also flap its wings and move over the water very slightly above the water line then drop into it beak first to grab a fish. It would also lift itself off the water for about a couple of feet and then drop like a tern does.
My first thought would be slender billed gull but I have never seen one and my field guide doesn't give a write up of the eye colour. The picture, in the book, shows a whitish eye and also a pinkish chest, which I don't think this bird had, although the very bright light didn't help.

Is there anyone that could confirm, from that description, what gull it was that were looking at. I hope you don't mind me asking your advice regarding the gull ID

We also had an amazing piece of luck when we found a wetland, by chance, right near to the Albanian border at a place called Sagiada. We had a definite sighting of a Slender billed Curlew which, as you know, is a very rare bird. It was on the edge of a party of 20+ Curlews and really stood out as something different. If I hadn't have had the Curlews close by for comparison I doubt if I would have made the connection but if you were to see one in those circumstances it helps enormously. The chest, underwing and rump are very strikingly whiter than the curlew and the bill is shorter and thinner and not so curved and almost looks needle sharp in comparison to the curlew. It had an altogether greyer appearance and was distinctively smaller than the curlew (possibly about two thirds the size of a curlew). The underbody feathers seemed to extend partially down both legs. I thought of Whimbrel at first but dismissed that as it didn't have the diagnostic dark line on the crown, if anything the centre of the crown looked lighter in the middle. Even the spotting looked relatively larger on the S.B.Curlew than the Curlews it was with.

We had some amazing birds on this trip and we went into uncharted areas as we had hardly any info to go on so I found most of the areas myself and there were some brilliant areas found by us. We had some horrendous weather though for the first nine days and apparently, according to the reps and travel agencies there, it was the worst weather the Greeks have had in that area for over 150 years. We had mud slides, rock slides, whole sides of hills fallen down over roads, floods, fallen trees and telegraph poles, gale force winds, thunder and incredible lightning, (although I do love watching these continental lightning storms). Still, in the end, we had some good weather in the end and found some great places and some excellent birds.

Regards
John J
 
I wish that I could help with the Gull ID John but I'm afraid that I'm just not sufficiently knowledgeable about them.

However I would like to welcome you to the Birdforum as a new memeber. Everyone is friendly here and you should receive bags of help if you need it.

As regards the site organisation, it is pretty wide ranging and takes a while to get used to. The best advice I can give is simply to explore the Forums over a couple of visits to ascertain which Forums interest you most. A handy feature is that if you post a query or a reply in a Forum then you can opt to receive notification of any further replies through your email account. The key to the whole site is the 'Bird Forums' page, the home page which then gives access to each of the other forums, which as you will find are quite numerous.

I hope that you find a few things of interest and I look forward to your postings.
 
Hopefully someone will bottom out the gull ID for me. Its been 3 weeks since I saw it and I am fairly convinced that it is a Slender billed Gull. I would just like it confirmed, or even rejected as an even rarer bird. Now that would be nice.

I will be coming relatively close to your area on Saturday as I am travelling up in the hope of seeing the White throated Sparrow that is currently at Flamborough. After that I probably will go down to Spurn and then over the Humber bridge and follow the Lincolnshire coastline southwards. My missus has relatives near to Holbeach and if we can reach it by the end of the day we might spend a night there and then on Sunday pop into the North Norfolk area. The only problem with Sunday is the projected weather report. It doesn't look good does it?

Once again thanks for the welcome. I will post a report of what I see over the weekend.

Regards
John J
 
Ive been to Greece a few times on holiday and only seen audouin's gull!! Ive never seen slender billed, but from your note's is does sound good!! Going by my books its the only simiar sized gull with a pale or yellowish iris, the rest fits as well, its stated as much rarer than black-headed...:t:
 
Last edited:
Hi John J,
Definite 1st-w Slender-billed Gull(the tail band rules out adult),which dosn't show any pink on the breast.Have seen a good few in Bulgaria in Sep.99.
Well done on the W-T Sparrow:we haven't had any American passerines here yet this autumn,but the winds look good for the next few days.Have only ever seen 3 sp.of American passerine here(Ireland),but never seen any of the sparrows(hasn't been a sparrow here since the W-T in Belfast from Dec.84-May 85)
Quiet here this autumn,but did tick Forster's Tern on 17th at Blennerville,and also saw "that" tern at Dingle.
We had an influx of Black Reds on the local headlands,but there have been very few notable passerines all autumn.
Harry
 
Hi Harry

Thanks for the confirmed ID on the Gull

Yes it was great about the W.T.Sparrow. The only other American sparrow I have seen was the Dark eyed Junco that I saw in Chester on 25/01/98. That bird was there for a few weeks before a firm ID was placed on it. It stayed for quite a few weeks more before disappearing.

John J

Harry Hussey said:
Hi John J,
Definite 1st-w Slender-billed Gull(the tail band rules out adult),which dosn't show any pink on the breast.Have seen a good few in Bulgaria in Sep.99.
Well done on the W-T Sparrow:we haven't had any American passerines here yet this autumn,but the winds look good for the next few days.Have only ever seen 3 sp.of American passerine here(Ireland),but never seen any of the sparrows(hasn't been a sparrow here since the W-T in Belfast from Dec.84-May 85)
Quiet here this autumn,but did tick Forster's Tern on 17th at Blennerville,and also saw "that" tern at Dingle.
We had an influx of Black Reds on the local headlands,but there have been very few notable passerines all autumn.
Harry
 
Warning! This thread is more than 22 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