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gulls (7 Viewers)
- Thread starter lou salomon
- Start date
lou salomon
the birdonist
looks like a mich to me. any more pics of it, cristian? is that a photo trick - the pale tip to left p10? probably sunlight.
Cristian Mihai
Cristian Mihai
Lou, micha was my first idea too, but I don't think that the pale tip of P10 is a photographic artifact...
Bonus, a 4cy bird.
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lou salomon
the birdonist
grrmbl, that's a cach bill...
and that 4cy has a p9 mirror (as a mich!)...cheers i'm in the middle of dressing my costumes..
pause..(in our show);
- birds like this 2cy cause me headache. when i see such strong transversal bars on 2nd gen. tertials, thick double anchors in scaps and well marked flanks, undertail coverts and head i usually see a young YLG. but as we've seen in the long staying male type and one of the birds in stuttgart this winter (a 4th one) this is not restricted to michahellis. on the other hand i think such a bill can be possible in a 1st winter mich, although on the extreme side. i suspect this bird reveals to be a cach though! and good if it is - nice documentation of difficult cases. maybe the folks from GRO wouldn't be in trouble that much, let's put it on the ID section there...
that "4cy" possibly is in fact a 5cy with immature primary coverts. that happens sometimes - check the rel. large apical spots to primaries and no p4 mark. did you see its leg colour?
and that 4cy has a p9 mirror (as a mich!)...cheers i'm in the middle of dressing my costumes..
pause..(in our show);
- birds like this 2cy cause me headache. when i see such strong transversal bars on 2nd gen. tertials, thick double anchors in scaps and well marked flanks, undertail coverts and head i usually see a young YLG. but as we've seen in the long staying male type and one of the birds in stuttgart this winter (a 4th one) this is not restricted to michahellis. on the other hand i think such a bill can be possible in a 1st winter mich, although on the extreme side. i suspect this bird reveals to be a cach though! and good if it is - nice documentation of difficult cases. maybe the folks from GRO wouldn't be in trouble that much, let's put it on the ID section there...
that "4cy" possibly is in fact a 5cy with immature primary coverts. that happens sometimes - check the rel. large apical spots to primaries and no p4 mark. did you see its leg colour?
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Cristian Mihai
Cristian Mihai
lou salomon
the birdonist
yes, the 2nd one has small primary tips (apical spots) and much smaller p9 mirror (still it has one!) - so this one would most probably be a 4cy. the first one could of course be an advanced 4cy, or it is a retarded 5cy - impossible to tell i think.
Cristian Mihai
Cristian Mihai
Cristian Mihai
Cristian Mihai
Cristian Mihai
Cristian Mihai
lou salomon
the birdonist
you're scaring people away with such adult caspian patterns, cristian - again a bird with a restricted p5 mark, only on outer web. it seems that at least 1-2 % show such small p5 marks or (in the xtreme) lack it like theo's bird from tulcea - this was a criteria to exclude pure caspians in the past...and yes, that's a good 2cy caspian. thanks for sharing.
Cristian Mihai
Cristian Mihai
tittletattler
Well-known member
Nice side by side comparison.
Cristian Mihai
Cristian Mihai
Thanks Andy. Here is a 3cy Yellow-legged (pic taken in the same location).
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Steve Arlow
Well-known member
gull species video
I have my opinion on the gull in this this video however can comments be made on this from a fresh perspective.http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CsMYJMvaa4g
many thanks
I have my opinion on the gull in this this video however can comments be made on this from a fresh perspective.http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CsMYJMvaa4g
many thanks
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lou salomon
the birdonist
hi steve,
sure looks good for casp. however, as you know one single posture, esp. swimming, can be deceptive. underwing pale but with some brown markings... bill nice and pointed. most caspians that i know from romania however have a pale base to bill at this stage.
edit: did you note anything about covert pattern, steve? how many new ones? was the big eyed impression in the field too? hard to exclude a YLG on this view. still looks better for casp in my eyes.
cheers,
sure looks good for casp. however, as you know one single posture, esp. swimming, can be deceptive. underwing pale but with some brown markings... bill nice and pointed. most caspians that i know from romania however have a pale base to bill at this stage.
edit: did you note anything about covert pattern, steve? how many new ones? was the big eyed impression in the field too? hard to exclude a YLG on this view. still looks better for casp in my eyes.
cheers,
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Steve Arlow
Well-known member
Hi Lou
I didn't see this bird myself, the video and still pictures were passed to me for comment, there are further videos of the bird here http://shorebirder-waderworld.blogspot.com/ whilst I have attached some still images.
My opinion was also that it was a Caspian Gull from looking at the picture and the video. I also commented on the rather large looking and central position of the eye in the face however whilst playing the video, at about second 8 into it, the bird moves its head into profile showing the slender looking bill with tapering tip with slightly greyish basal half/two thirds along with a fine sloping head giving an overall very Casp feel.
Looking at the still picture the head looks small in relation to body size, almost looks out of proportion, and the head is clean white, I've not yet seen a Yellow-legged with such a small and clean unmarked white head and such slender Caspian like bill, the Yellow-leggeds I've seen have a rather mean looking facial impression due to rather bulky head, large eye with often a little dark marking and stout blunt tipped bill.
I can't see any new wing coverts in the image but they are faded with pale tips to the greater and inner median coverts which is more Casp like from my observations here in Essex.
It also looks a rather large bulky bird.
I didn't see this bird myself, the video and still pictures were passed to me for comment, there are further videos of the bird here http://shorebirder-waderworld.blogspot.com/ whilst I have attached some still images.
My opinion was also that it was a Caspian Gull from looking at the picture and the video. I also commented on the rather large looking and central position of the eye in the face however whilst playing the video, at about second 8 into it, the bird moves its head into profile showing the slender looking bill with tapering tip with slightly greyish basal half/two thirds along with a fine sloping head giving an overall very Casp feel.
Looking at the still picture the head looks small in relation to body size, almost looks out of proportion, and the head is clean white, I've not yet seen a Yellow-legged with such a small and clean unmarked white head and such slender Caspian like bill, the Yellow-leggeds I've seen have a rather mean looking facial impression due to rather bulky head, large eye with often a little dark marking and stout blunt tipped bill.
I can't see any new wing coverts in the image but they are faded with pale tips to the greater and inner median coverts which is more Casp like from my observations here in Essex.
It also looks a rather large bulky bird.
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lou salomon
the birdonist
it's a caspian allright. possibly some inner median and lesser coverts are 2nd gen., hard to tell. greater coverts stronger patterned than in average cach but still allright. head shape is a feature i usually ignore since all species can look like all species depending on mood and posture. of course there's a tendency for casp. to have a sloping forehead but 1st cycle YLG can be identic and male cachs can look block headed. and yes, there exist YLG with totally white heads at this time of year. overall impression is of a good caspian here though.
cheers to london and surroundings,
cheers to london and surroundings,
JANJ
Well-known member
Nothing what I can see speaks against a straightforward Caspian.
Structure:
http://www.pbase.com/m_muller/image/122063737
JanJ
Structure:
http://www.pbase.com/m_muller/image/122063737
JanJ
Cristian Mihai
Cristian Mihai
Cristian Mihai
Cristian Mihai
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