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| 1 | 2 |  » Stats |
Members: 50,126
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| | Welcome to our newest member, Kathy P | |  | 
06-01-2010, 04:38 PM
|  | Commander of the Wild Empire | | Join Date: Sep 2008 Location: West Yorkshire
Posts: 1,346
| | | Un-ID gulls in my garden with BHGs
Every winter (during harshest of weather only) I get a flock (20+) of BHGs regularly visiting my garden to feed. This winter I’ve noticed that several in the flock are not BHGs, but I don’t know what they are  They’re noticeably larger than the BHGs and don’t have red bills and red legs like the BHGs have – I’ve tried googling, but have quickly learnt that gulls are seemingly hard to ID if they’re a 1st/2nd winter gull! I’ve taken a few rubbish pics  through my kitchen window and hoped it might be poss to make an ID from them...  
In the pic below, I think the gull in the foreground and the one on the left with wings out-stretched could be the same species? 
And lastly, a couple of BHGs (not requiring ID  ), but showing that one of them has already started its head moult into summer plumage - roll on Spring  !  |
06-01-2010, 04:50 PM
|  | Knight Commander of the Wild Empire | | Join Date: Mar 2007 Location: Romford, Essex
Posts: 5,355
| | | Re: Un-ID gulls in my garden with BHGs
They are common gulls, based on the 'speckledy' head + size - and I often see them hanging around with black headed gulls near me. |
06-01-2010, 07:17 PM
| | Knight Grand Cross of the Wild Empire | | Join Date: Jul 2006
Posts: 13,603
| | | Re: Un-ID gulls in my garden with BHGs
Yes, Common Gulls- in the top photo adults, but in middle photo there are 2 1st winter birds. |
06-01-2010, 07:41 PM
|  | Knight Grand Cross of the Wild Empire | | Join Date: Jul 2007 Location: London
Posts: 11,830
| | | Re: Un-ID gulls in my garden with BHGs
Hi Hoggy,
Agreed - all unidentified ones are winter-plumaged Common Gulls. When I first saw them like that in 2007 I thought they were Ring-billed Gulls!
Take care, Jason  |
06-01-2010, 07:42 PM
| | Knight Commander of the Wild Empire | | Join Date: Mar 2007 Location: Romford, Essex
Posts: 5,355
| | | Re: Un-ID gulls in my garden with BHGs
Quote:
Originally Posted by Jason Green  Hi Hoggy,
Agreed - all unidentified ones are winter-plumaged Common Gulls. When I first saw my ones I thought it was a Ring-billed Gull!
Take care, Jason | Horizontal Dave had the same problem at Oare last week and I have to admit I wondered the first time I saw one! |
06-01-2010, 08:12 PM
| | Knight Grand Cross of the Wild Empire | | Join Date: Jul 2007 Location: London
Posts: 11,830
| | | Re: Un-ID gulls in my garden with BHGs
Thanks Neil, I'm glad I'm not the only one to have made that mistake! The biggest tell-tale for me now if I am unable to judge it's size in the field is to look at the eye - RBG's are yellow and the CG's are dark |
06-01-2010, 08:15 PM
| | Knight Grand Cross of the Wild Empire | | Join Date: Jul 2006
Posts: 13,603
| | | Re: Un-ID gulls in my garden with BHGs
Quote:
Originally Posted by Jason Green Thanks Neil, I'm glad I'm not the only one to have made that mistake! The biggest tell-tale for me now if I am unable to judge it's size in the field is to look at the eye - RBG's are yellow and the CG's are dark | The eye colour only works for the adults! |
06-01-2010, 08:20 PM
| | Knight Commander of the Wild Empire | | Join Date: Mar 2007 Location: Romford, Essex
Posts: 5,355
| | | Re: Un-ID gulls in my garden with BHGs
Quote:
Originally Posted by aeshna5 The eye colour only works for the adults! | Next your be telling me that the juveniles have different plumage depending on how many winters they've seen  |
06-01-2010, 08:26 PM
| | Knight Grand Cross of the Wild Empire | | Join Date: Jul 2007 Location: London
Posts: 11,830
| | | Re: Un-ID gulls in my garden with BHGs
DNA-test them then, just to be sure...  |
06-01-2010, 09:47 PM
| | Commander of the Wild Empire | | Join Date: Sep 2008 Location: West Yorkshire
Posts: 1,346
| | | Re: Un-ID gulls in my garden with BHGs
Many thanks for everyone’s input I didn’t get as far as googling CG - after looking at images of Herring Gulls, LBBGs, GBBGs and even Yellow-Legged Gulls, in their fledgling, juvenile, first-winter, second-winter, adult summer and adult winter plumage, I gave up!!  I hadn’t realised until today just how complex these species are. How you all manage to differentiate between the many different phases for each species beats me - I'm impressed I’ve learnt a lot today. Thanks muchly
P.S. I've no idea what happened to my 2nd photo. The gull's head was completely intact when I reviewed the pic in my view-finder, but when I uploaded it to my PC, it got spliced in half!
Last edited by Hedgehoggy; 06-01-2010 at 09:50 PM.
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