I have had a little bit of feedback on the gulls and have done lots of research. Despite posting the pics on birdforum I had nothing back save a solitary vote for Lesser Black-backed Gull for the bird on the deck and this along with some correspondence on twitter was my thought but it didnt sit well. Yesterday Michael Flowers managed a shot of the open wing which showed it to be dark with a small, faint window. Allied with some correspondence on twitter and it became clear that this is a Yellow-legged Gull due to its generally pale appearance, strong bill, underwing marking and leg length. The marked UTC's also point against Caspian.
In reference to the flying bird I have had no feedback but I have studied Olsen & Larsson quite a bit and the relevant features for 1st-winter Caspian Gull are present - the pale underwing with whacking great windows in the primaries plus the generally pale appearance, clean UTCs, tail bar pattern and long, parallel sided bill on a small head.
Im quite chuffed that I managed to get a handle on these bits as I'm not the best at immature gulls - Im constantly befuddled but I kept returning to it and am happy with the results (and chuffed with the outcome). Caspian Gull is a new bird for Yorkshire for me and the Yellow-legged Gull was only my 2nd in county I think.
Showing posts with label Gulls. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Gulls. Show all posts
Saturday, 7 May 2011
Sunday, 23 January 2011
Gulls and tings
The last couple of weeks have been a swine flu filled fun time. Despite this I have managed to get away on survey for a bit in the Moray Firth latterly. No great shakes but a few skeins of Pink-feet were the highlights on a choppy trip. I managed a few snaps of Herring and Great Black-backed Gulls and a couple even came out ok considering they were handheld on a boat in seastate 4.
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| Great Black-backed Gull |
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| Herring Gull |
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| Herring Gull in silhouette |
The gull theme was continued today with some Mediterranean Gulls in pretty terrible light at Holbeck car park, Scarborough.
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| Mediterranean Gull |
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| Mediterranean Gull |
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| Black-headed Gulls |
I also tried for the Iceland Gull in Scarborough Harbour. Abject fail - all the gulls were up in the air, presumably due to Peregrines patrolling the air space. A female Red-breasted Merganser in the harbour was a pleasant surprise and the Great Northern Diver was patrolling the South Bay, year ticks both.
Just to prove I'm not gull obsessed here is a Tree Sparrow
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| Tree Sparrow |
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