Wednesday 3 January 2024

Winter adult Herring Gull-type with dark grey lead-toned grey upperparts

Winter adult Herring Gull-type with dark grey lead-toned grey upperparts with a bluish tinge (as in a dark type Scandinavian Herring Gull (Larus argentatus argentatus), with pink-flesh tone to the legs, rather fine extensive grey-brown head streaking and smudged "thumbprints" on the hindneck, across the neck sides, and down on the breast sides, obvious dark markings around the eye, with relatively dark peppered eye, deep red eye-ring, week bill colour with soft pinkish base and some more yellow in the distal portion with an orangey-red gonys spot confined to gonys on the lower mandible, but reaching the cutting edge even though the colour fades towards the edge, and without any black markings or spots on the bill, black on six outher primaries (i.e. black extended inwards as far as P5 where a black band extends across both webs) where black bands on P5 and P6 creates a "w" pattern, with a mirror on both P10 and P9, where the mirror on P10 is much larger than on P9 and separated from the white tip by a narrow black subterminal band, rounded white mirror on P9, where the outer primaries show a lot more black on outer than in the inner webs, with relatively small white apical tips, and with white tongue tips on P5-P8 creating a distinct string of pearls.






































Tarsiger

1st record for Ireland and 1st for Western Palearctic

1st record for Italy and 3rd for Western Palearctic

 Caspian Gull (Larus cachinnans), ad, 31.12.2023, Grenaa Harbor

Since this Caspian Gull was first found on December 11, 2010 it has wintered annually in Grenaa Harbor which makes it one of the returning individuals with the longest track record in Denmark.