This Caspian Gull represents the first ever documented record of the species on the island Læsø in the North Sea bay of Kattegat. It has an all characteristic plumage for the age class with a small white mirror visible on the outer most primary (p10) which is classic for 2nd winter cachinnans and very unusual in argentatus.
Additionally it has relative long legs where the thinner appearance with longer tibia compared to argentatus is quite distinctive, the bill is without pronounced gonys angle, it has distinctive dark spotted neck boa in contrast to the more whitish rather unspotted head and there is a well-defined broad black tail band with the inner tail half being unmarked white. It has a good cachinnans jizz with a high push up breast, belly slightly dropped behind legs and long slim rear giving an elongated impression.
The Danish Glaucous-winged Gull was today relocated in Aarhus Harbor, but only seen for just a few minutes before flying off again. The latest week has given massive influx of large gulls in the harbor as snow and frost reduces feeding opportunities in the hinterland; thus the large gulls stay and feed in the harbor throughout the day giving superb conditions for gull watching. It is the first Glaucous-winged Gull for Scandinavia and only the 5th record in Western Palearctic.
Note that most of my previous photos are underexposed making the outer primary pattern in the flying bird appear darker than the bird originally was. For more well exposed photos of the same bird in the almost same minutes please have a look here, here, here and here.
A beautiful and rather typical Caspian Gull found by the local birder Stephan Skaarup Lund (SSL). Most likely a 4th winter individual due to black marking in primary coverts, small and isolated mirrors on p10 and p9, relative large dark spot on upper mandible, and reminisces of classic winter neck-boa this late in season, where adults are typically in complete summer plumage by now.
One could state that the primary pattern is not spot on for cachinnans, but certainly within variation. There is black on p10-p5, the latter with a complete black subterminal band across the feather tip but being rather narrow on inner web. The black is extensive on the outer (leading) web, reaching the primary coverts on p10 and almost reaching on p9, and covering about half the exposed length of p8 and p7. The inner web has a reduced amount of black with the basal section fading from grey to whitish grey with a sharp division from the black, but the grey tongue are not that long on inner web of p10.
Adult Caspian Gull normally has large white mirrors on p10 and p9, although the p10 mirror usually merges with the white feather tip to give an extensive white tip; if not merged, the black between the white of tip and mirror is a very narrow bar like in this individual. The p9 mirror is better separated from the white tip but is sometimes split by a narrow black bar along the primary shaft. The small isolated mirrors on p10 and p9 could be related to sub-adultness in this gull.
This Yellow-legged Gull has fine needle-thin winter streaks in head centered especially around the eyes, heavy bill with strong colours and red gonys spot reaching lower edge of upper mandible, red orbital ring and yellowish iris, strong head profile, warm yellow legs, darker upperparts than argentatus in direct comparison, slender and long-winged appearance with elongated body profile. On the opened wing the seven inner most primaries are all new generation feathers with p7 half grown and a typical black band crossing p5, both p8 and p9 are missing and p10 has not yet been shed in the right wing. The fresh primaries have relative small white apical spots smaller than the average argentatus and the tip of p6 extends further beyond the longest tertials than seen on argentatus adding to the long-winged appearance of this species.
This Glaucous-winged Gull was found and identified straight away by the great local birder Rune Sø Neergaard. It is the first Glaucous-winged Gull for Scandinavia and only the 5th record in Western Palearctic.
Note that most of my photos in this post are underexposed making the outer primary pattern in the flying bird appear darker than the bird originally was. For more well exposed photos of the same bird in the almost same minutes please have a look here, here, here and here.
Arten er en lokal sjældenhed i Østjylland, hvor den dog efterhånden ses med større regelmæssighed. Det er formentlig samme individ, som de sidste to vintre er set i Århus Centralhavn som hhv. 2K, 3K og tidligere på året som 4K. Fuglen har hver vinter de samme rytmer med at flyve ind over byen, besøge pølsevognen ved Århus Domkirke og ellers frekventere molerne i centralhavnen i selskab med Hættemågerne
This Caspian Gull has relative slender and long bill without pronounced gonys angle, small darkish eye situated closer to the flat forehead than in argentatus, distinctive head shape with angled profile, relative small white apical spots on exposed primaries and it has a cachinnans-like jizz with small head, flat back and long slim elongated rear. Additionally the upperparts are slightly darker than nearby argentatus.
Initially identified as a 1cy Yellow-legged Gull, but due to the rather short-winged impression, head and bill profile an argentatus Herring Gull is far more likely even though the tertials are spot on for michahellis.
This presumed hybrid Lesser Black-backed Gull (Larus fuscus) x European Herring Gull (Larus argentatus) was photograped at Egens Havhuse in Kalø Vig on 27 October 2009. It immediately attracted my attention because of its dark-grey upperparts which were much darker than on the nearby European Herring Gulls but at the same time the bird was not a Lesser Black-backed Gull.
The possibility of it being a hybrid Lesser Black-backed Gull x European Herring Gull, seems to be the best fit because it was much darker grey compared to local Herring Gulls and it showed distinct pink-tinged legs, rather dark underside to primaries and a broad white trailing edge to secondaries as in Lesser Black-backed Gull and finally a Herring Gull JIZZ with short primary projection. In other words, it showed mixed characters of both species.
This leucistic and ringed argentatus with primary patterns and upperparts ghosting normal colorations has been seen on several occasions since 2006. It has been seen in Aarhus Harbour both 2006 and 2009 and on Djursland a few times, but always as an adult bird which makes it at least a 7cy+.
