Shearwater?

[Africa]

Today I was taking photos of seagulls at Sammy's Point at the mouth of the river Hull. It was very windy and chilly and some Lesser Black-backed gulls were gliding and calling, almost suspended in the same spot by the force of the wind. When I checked the photos I came across this, which I don't think is a seagull. Fulmars, shearwaters came to mind (sorry by the poor quality, this is the only shot I got).

[Jason Claxton]

It looks like a Fulmar.

[Adam Cheeseman]

Hard to tell but I would say it's more like a Kittiwake than anything else from tyhat photo. Definitely not a shearwater/petrel. Doesn't look like a fulmar to me as the wings are held angled and the gizz is wrong.

Cheers,

Adam

[david156]

Hi.

I agree with adam and would say definitely not a shearwater or petrel. Fulmars normally glide on stiff wings. Not sure about kittiwake either but will copy and send your image to a gull nerd that I know.

David

[Jason Claxton]

um it could be a Kittiwake,I thought that the bill looked short,but may just appear short from that angle,so you wouldn't have seen a tubenose on it Africa?

[Africa]

Thank you everybody for your pointers. In the photo, I can see the legs are reddish, not black as in Kittiwakes, also Kittiwakes wing tips are sharply back like dipped in ink, but in this one, the first primary is black further up than the rest. I can see now that is not a shearwater? I wonder if it is just an odd angle of a lesser black-backed. Could wing angle be due to strong wind?

[david156]

Hi.

Didn't have much joy with your picture. Had an email back from my mate the gull nerd and this was his reply;

"Hi David

This is a bit tricky but having given it much thought I
can without any shadow of doubt confirm that this is a
bird the fact that it is flying and appears to be covered
in feathers are good clues as to its identification.
Seriously though it looks like a Common Gull the length
and shape of wings and despite the poor quality of the
picture and the bird is flying away from you the bill
looks too small for Herring Gull, black wingtips rule out
Iceland and Mediterranean Gull."

Not much help i'm afraid.

Cheers David.

[Adam Cheeseman]

Hand on heart I did consider Common Gull as a second choice. Should have put it in my original post.

Cheers,

Adam

[davidbr]

It's definitely not a tubenose, and having enlarged the image I'm 99% certain it's a winter-plumaged Common Gull. Note the size, shape and obvious dark-speckled head.

[Africa]

I'll settle with Common Gull! Thank you everybody!