Greece. Pink gull (1 Viewer)

[testoduro]

In December I took this picture of a Ruff among a flock of Black-Headed Gulls. When I looked at the picture later, I noticed the pink-chested one. It's just another BHG, I assume but is it a real rarity? I assume its pink colour is due to its diet, but shouldn't be many more with the same colour?

Thanks

 

[Andrew Whitehouse]

Sometimes Black-headed Gulls get a bit pink, but this is perhaps more likely a Slender-billed Gull. It's a bit hard to be sure from what can be seen though. There also appears to be a Caspian Tern on the left.

 

[Alexander Stöhr]

Hello,
do you have more pictures of the Gull and the Tern?
For the Gull, I get a fullbreasted impression too (and it seems to try hard to hide its neck in the body. Yes, this came into my mind) And the lacked color of the legs .... Therefore I got a Slender billed Gull vibe like Andrew too.
For the Tern my initial gut feeling was Sandwich Tern by appearant size in relation to the BHG, the shape of the black cap and the shaggy crest. But yes, this might well be difficult to judge in a single picture.

 

[Andrew Whitehouse]

Hello,
do you have more pictures of the Gull and the Tern?
For the Gull, I get a fullbreasted impression too (and it seems to try hard to hide its neck in the body. Yes, this came into my mind) And the lacked color of the legs .... Therefore I got a Slender billed Gull vibe like Andrew too.
For the Tern my initial gut feeling was Sandwich Tern by appearant size in relation to the BHG, the shape of the black cap and the shaggy crest. But yes, this might well be difficult to judge in a single picture.

Yes, I think it's probably too small for Caspian, so likely a Sandwich.

 

[PYRTLE]

Another vote for Slender - billed gull, moreso due to clean white head that is showing for this individual attaining Spring plumage.

 

[lou salomon]

I wouldn't want to decide between SBG and BHG in the pink bird. There exist such pink individuals even in BHG. Ear patch could be blurred, legs don't look longer (often a slightly longer tibia in SBG but when at rest not always obvious) and colour in legs often more vividly red.

 

[PYRTLE]

I wouldn't want to decide between SBG and BHG in the pink bird. There exist such pink individuals even in BHG. Ear patch could be blurred, legs don't look longer (often a slightly longer tibia in SBG but when at rest not always obvious) and colour in legs often more vividly red.

Surely a b.h. gull that has coloured up with a pink flush would also exhibit a full adult chocolate brown hood, easily noticed despite tucking its beak and forehead down. Given the angle and percentage of head on view, some smudge should be visible if it were indeed a Black headed.

 

[Joern Lehmhus]

Surely a b.h. gull that has coloured up with a pink flush would also exhibit a full adult chocolate brown hood, easily noticed despite tucking its beak and forehead down. Given the angle and percentage of head on view, some smudge should be visible if it were indeed a Black headed.

I am not so sure - look at the gull just right of the redshank concerning visibility of head pattern ....

Also while backheaded gull with pink hue in most cases show this in breeding plumage , there are very occasional birds also showing this in winter (but at that time generally weaker than the bird in question).
Currently, I only found this example for a winter plumaged BH Gull showing a pink hue

Black-headed Gull - C. ridibundus

but I remember some more in the web

Furtehrmore , also SB Gull seems to show the pink hue more commonly in breeding plumage? So is that species more advanced at this time of the year than BH Gull?

 

[testoduro]

Hello,
do you have more pictures of the Gull and the Tern?

Only this other one, Alexander, but I don't think it can help much. The wader, by the way, is a Ruff, not a Redshank, isn't it?

 

[fdokykcu]

Only this other one, Alexander, but I don't think it can help much. The wader, by the way, is a Ruff, not a Redshank, isn't it?

Yes, the wader is clearly a Ruff

 

[Bubbs]

Slender-billed Gull.

 

[Butty]

The ruff is a ruff. The other is... dunno - maybe a dunlin.

 

[Joern Lehmhus]

Agree- just don´t know why I was writing Redshank instead of Ruff

 

[HouseCrow]

I don't think this one (1) tiny tiny slip up will land you in Birdforum Isolation Joern.

 

[Joern Lehmhus]

So the consensus is that the pink breasted one is most likely, for some observers clearly, Slenderbilled gull?

If that is so , what about the bird I circled in orange ? I don´t see a Blackheaded Gull head pattern there?

 

[Steve Lister]

So the consensus is that the pink breasted one is most likely, for some observers clearly, Slenderbilled gull?

If that is so , what about the bird I circled in orange ? I don´t see a Blackheaded Gull head pattern there?

Another Slender-billed? It is Greece after all.

 

[Bubbs]

Slender-billed Gull number two.

 

[Alexander Stöhr]

Agree- just don´t know why I was writing Redshank instead of Ruff

Hello Jörn,

Easy explanation, that came into my mind: you looked at the pictures of the Flaanders waders and got the same impression like me: many birds are hard/nearly impossible to identify with confidence, apart from many Redshanks (helped by the fact, that Clibanarii has identified them in the field, and yes the Oystercatchers and Mallards). So I used the Redshanks as some kind of reference birds and if you did the same (even if you are not aware of it) than the word Redshank is still in your mind when writing a comment. This is regular hard to avoid, especially when concentrating on the Gull.

Heißt es Dachgiebel oder Dachgabel? .... you know it?

More important for me: I hope for more comments about the SBGs. As said, I can't identify them with confidence (overlooked the second, although looked harder at this Hidden object picture) and I hope for more comments. Thanks!

@Bubbs: No offense you know, I hope you find the time to write more. Thanks!

 

[lou salomon]

The second one looks even better, look at the long tibia. Still, without seeing head and bill properly, it's not safe with such pics.