LBJ's and A N Other for ID Please & Thank you!

operanut1972 · #1 (**permalink**) 22-06-2011, 01:52 AM

Hi Guys, more from the same area the LBJ's were having a great time, till the great big hairy wheelchair guy stuck his lens in!

The Black headed bird has been hanging around with the Swan, I have no idea what it is apart from it may be a Gull.

Any and all help and comments gratefully received.

faz · #2 (**permalink**) 22-06-2011, 05:22 AM

hi welcome to WAB top picture looks like a Mediterranean gull and the bottom picture are house sparrows

Deb London · #3 (**permalink**) 22-06-2011, 06:02 AM

Hi ON, I agree with faz....partially.

I'm fairly sure that's a Black-headed Gull.

The Med Gull looks exactly like Keehar to me (Watership Down).

faz · #4 (**permalink**) 22-06-2011, 06:14 AM

it is a toss up with bhg to me the black on the head is further back so makes it a med for me if you get what i mean

but yes could be

david156 · #5 (**permalink**) 22-06-2011, 06:57 AM

Black Headed gull and House Sparrows.

A med gull has a slightly darker head extending down the back of the neck a bit more, also sits slightly more upright has brighter shade of red bill but the main id feature when comparing the two is in adult birds med gulls have no black on the wing whereas on this bird you can see the Black tips to the wings.

Cheers David

Just to add BH gulls and meds also have different calls. The meds call is distinctive. Its well worth having a listen because you often hear them amongst the other gulls before you see them.

http://www.rspb.org.uk/wildlife/bird...ull/index.aspx

http://www.rspb.org.uk/wildlife/bird...ull/index.aspx

david156 · #6 (**permalink**) 22-06-2011, 07:10 AM

Hi, just adding some pics of med gull. Taken me a while to find them

This is a winter plumage bird but as you can see there is no white in the wings and it has a different build to the BH gulls that its with.
It still eats bread though!!!

Hope this helps, David

operanut1972 · #7 (**permalink**) 22-06-2011, 07:59 AM

Thanks Guys,

I thought it might be the Black Headed Gull, but wasn't sure enough to tell. The Sparrow family all look alike to me, lol. Am I right in thinking there are juveniles amoungst this group?

Gill Catton · #8 (**permalink**) 22-06-2011, 11:18 AM

Its definitely a black headed gull. Med gulls have a much darker head and brighter white 'eyeliner' and white wings a much smarter looking bird.

Also with the sparrow family there really are only house sparrows and tree sparrows to tell apart
.
House sparrows can be told apart from tree sparrows as males and females are different colours only the males have the black 'beard' and brown and grey cap the females are streaky brown op top and greayish/ brown below. Tree sparrows have a lovely rich chestnut brown cap and crucially a black dot on their bright white cheek.

What are sometimes called hedge sparrows are not true sparrows and again males and females are alike. The crucial difference is the beak which in narrow whereas the house sparrow has that thick wedge of a beak.

The RSPB have some brilliant bird books illustrated with photographs that are brilliant and pointing out the key differences.

I'm afraid I can't see from the photographs if there are juveniles there. Juvenile house sparrows typically look like their mum but often have a yellow edge to the corner of their beak still.

GME · #9 (**permalink**) 22-06-2011, 01:11 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by operanut1972

the LBJ's were having a great time

They do look like they're having fun! I get quite a few House Sparrows visiting the feeders. They're messy little things though, scattering the seed all over. And don't even get me started on Gulls!! Living where I do, we're mobbed by them!

operanut1972 · #10 (**permalink**) 23-06-2011, 06:38 PM

Thanks for the info Gill, that makes sense I get fazed by the litlle birds as the differences between them seem so tiny to me. I'll get there I'm sure, but it's still early days for me. Incidentally these shots were taken using the 45-200 on a Lumix G2. I wasn't expecting much from the lens but it seems ok at lower iso, after 600 it gets a bit grainy, but then so do most cameras. I'm looking forward to getting my hands on my canon gear to see the difference.

We go to Blackpool quite alot to see family, the Gulls certainly let you know that they are there, lol! I am hoping to set a feeding station up in the garden, I've let a small patch go wild, so that should be interesting to see what we get visiting.

Many thanks