Sunday 10 February 2013

'Caspianesque' as opposed to Caspian Gull

No sign of yesterday's Caspian Gull which was seen at the mouth of the Clwyd at 4pm yesterday. I searched from Llanddulas to Kinmel Bay looking through thousands of gulls on the way. Only one bird made my heart miss a beat - this lovely white headed Caspianesque like gull. Nice and a bit different but not the stonking bird that was seen yesterday by Pete Kinsella.

10+  argentatus Herring Gulls, while 3 Lesser black bacled Gulls, including 2 adults had returned to the coast.

Sorry for the poor pics, but this was taken in the fading light in the gloom at Abergele this evening.

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4 comments:

  1. Rob Sandham11 February 2013 at 12:22

    Can't decide about this. Some things look ok but scaps, tertials and prims not what I'd expect. Head and bill look ok in couple of shots, less so in the other. Looks less like a mich to me. Be interesting to hear other thoughts.

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  2. Unknown11 February 2013 at 13:23

    It's just an interesting looking argenteus Herring Gull I think Rob. Got my heart going to start with but soon decided there weren't enough characteristics for anything else. I suppose it could be an interesting Michahellis I suppose but there's no real point going there.

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  3. Zac Hinchcliffe9 September 2013 at 20:50

    What makes this NOT a cach? From what I can tell, the tertials look brown, which I'd expect to look black as the primaries as well as not having much of a pale fringe. Apart from that and the face looking pretty Herring-like (I can't work out why though...)

    Cheers
    Zac

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  4. Unknown9 September 2013 at 22:26

    IMO the bill is too short and not parallel-edged, and structurally it's better suited to a Herring Gull (wings don't project much beyond tail, not long-necked, rounded head rather than flat-topped and not a very sloping forehead, so the head doesn't look very 'pear-shaped'). It looks striking at first glance, but it's quite easy to forget that those striking pro-features, like the all-white head and grey shawl on the neck, can be shown on Herring Gull as well, which is what I assume it is.

    cheers

    Liam Curson

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