gulls (1 Viewer)

[lou salomon]

thanks, ies, the large white inner primary tips look convincing for a 2cy, i overlooked that. and it fits with bill & tail pattern also. alright!

 

[lou salomon]

got some pics from bf-member teodor from romanian black sea coast.

1. ylg or caspian?, i tend to the latter, 26.04.2006

rest all michahellis, just for the joy of seeing:

2. ad, 20.06.2008 (a friend/fiend of this one: http://www.birdforum.net/gallery/showphoto.php?photo=201724)
3. 3cy with just a hint of black subterminal mark on bill, pale eyes and bright yellow feet, 22.06.2008
4 and 5. fresh juveniles, 18.07.2007

 

[lou salomon]

some ideas on the 2cy (pic 1): bill long, smallish looking eye but maybe due to almost entirely white head and underparts which is better for cachinnans but can occure in ylg as well. greater covert pattern, what is visible of it in this angle and stadium of wear is well checkered (usually less in caspian but great variation), tips of gr. coverts form a broad pale band which is a caspian feature. ergo i think it is a 2cy male caspian. any thoughts?


another theme - this one was labelled as pallas's gull (ichtyaetus) (1st pic is a crop of the original, pic 2) - what do you think?

 

[lou salomon]

another theme - this one was labelled as pallas's gull (ichtyaetus) (1st pic is a crop of the original, pic 2) - what do you think?

well, obviously it is a med gull (which doesn't mean, that ichtyaetus was not possibly present, a good site for this former rare species). i was just a bit worried about the amount of visible black in wingtip, usually confined to a very narrow line on p10 and not so well visible in swimming birds. but it makes total sense if it is a 2nd summer (3cy).

 

[ashley banwell]

Gulls at Pentney GP, Norfolk

Good flock of 200+ gulls at Pentney this week-end and in with them 10 Yellow-legged and a couple of potential Caspian. One of the YL looked particually big. I would like to know what you think about the ID of them.

Cheers
Ashley

 

[lou salomon]

hi ashley,

looks like a fairly normal michahellis. some male YLGs are pretty large.
leg colour at this time of year usually brighter (yellow) in a 3cy and longer. ideally head would be larger and bill more bulbous in a male YLG but i don't see at all caspian gull in this (although seeing the 2nd pic one could get a "wait-a-minute" impression by its bend neck and small-looking head)
any more pics of this bird, ashley?

cheers

 

[ashley banwell]

thanks, thought it was just a YLG, you happy with the Caspian? I do have more photos of the YLG

Cheers
Ashley

 

[lou salomon]

cachinnans: pic 1-2?

 

[ashley banwell]

yes 1 and 2. To me the bill looks good being straight and long, very small beady eye, long legs

 

[lou salomon]

it looks ok for cachinnans but pics are a bit small.

 

[ashley banwell]

this should be a larger pic

 

[ashley banwell]

heres a flight shot

 

[lou salomon]

hi ashley,

colourless slimm bill with weak gonys plus small dark eye and long visible slim tibia look perfect for a 3cy caspian gull. the flightshot doesn't help too much this time as it only shows the primary moult score, which would be in line with both caspian and YLG. but if it is the same ind. then i would say : pretty safe caspian.

cheers,

 

[JANJ]

Hi Lou Ashley.

Ashleys standing Caspian is of course a Caspian. But candidate nr 2 is not the same individual as the one mentioned. It could however also be a Caspian but since I only can judge from the image - I´m gonna hesitate and suggest that it could very well be a YLG.
The sloping forehead and seemingly long bill doe´s suggest Caspian, and it might well be! The eye looks big for Caspian but in some images it doe´s - and also in real life some Caspians don´t live up to the small bedy eye look normally associatded with the species. Seems as Ashely had smallish eye´s in both he´s gull thugh.
As mentioned by Lou - size in gulls is affected by sex, males are bigger than females.
So, judging size in a mixed gull crowds as Ashely´s - with HG, LBBG and even GBBG is not so straightforward as one might think - some females GBBG are as big as some male HG and so on.

JanJ

 

[ashley banwell]

thanks guys for your thoughts on my Caspo. I believe there were 2 birds that were Caspian along with several YLG. I have a photo of the 2nd individual , as attached.

 

[lou salomon]

hi ashley,

i didn't recognize them as 2 individuals. but this one surely looks good for caspian too (told you about the "waitaminute" impression seeing this giraffe neck, small head and longish straight bill).

 

[JANJ]

Yes, better image of the second Caspian individual, now the same size as when I blowed it upp to 300%, but better. Try it and see how it developes sharper edges to the bill and the eye becones slightly smaller, not that it hadn´t some Caspian features before, but more trustworthy.

JanJ

 

[ashley banwell]

any thoughts on this long billed bird

 

[JANJ]

A 3cy type (second summer) GBBG. Note the heavy structure, small eye and large bill with bulbous tip. Some GBBG at this age class develope a yellow bill.

http://www.gull-research.org/gbbg/gbbg3cy/gbbg3cy13.htm

http://www.gull-research.org/gbbg/gbbg3cy/gbbg3cy14.htm

Some good gull images here (from Simrishamn in southern Sweden, a place I visit from time to time).

http://www.pbase.com/slisch/large_gulls

and here:

http://www.iesmeulmeester.nl/fotos.php?actie=cat&cat=1

JanJ

 

[Howard King]

Morning Guys
Have been sent some pictures taken here feb/march I believe - ignore the Great/ Black Headed
Pic 3 and 4 same birds