is it a BHG

[faz]

Originally Posted by aeshna5

Amongst the thousands of Black-headed Gulls I've seen over the last week, 2 have had full dark heads.

never in 47 years have i seen bhg in winter with a dark head

[RoyW]

Originally Posted by faz

never in 47 years have i seen bhg in winter with a dark head

Maybe you haven't spent much time watching gull roosts and the feeding gatherings that can number several thousand at rubbish tops etc.

I tend to start seeing very small numbers with dark hoods from early December (less than 0.5%), with one or two tending to have complete dark hoods by this time of year. This year I saw a particularly early one, with an almost complete dark hood in mid November at a local reservoir roost!

[wint]

I haven't had many opportunities to scan through gull flocks this winter but I looked for the Gosport (Hants) Ring-billed Gull this morning and before I found it I did come across a 'black-headed' Black-headed Gull. I would expect to see one with a black head in winter out of our local 'flock' of 500-1000.

I did once see a Bar-tailed Godwit in full sumplum on a new Year's day outing.

[Guinnessman1974]

I have seen these birds with early 'black-heads' in winter time too - below is a photograph of BHG's taken on New Year's eve 2010!