Topsham Gulls

29th April 2014 - Topsham

No Pratincole photos here, I was out of county over the weekend and had a deadline to meet this week. As compensation - honestly - there's always the gulls at The Rec. Here's a view I had yesterday afternoon; click it for a bigger picture.

Gulls, Topsham Rec - 29/4/2014

As usual it's mostly Herring Gulls, with a couple of Lesser Black-backs - adult at right and a 3rd calendar year/2nd cycle immature at extreme left. There are also two adults which are clearly neither species: the isolated sleeping bird to the left and the partially hidden bird at back and centre. Both are about dark enough for Yellow-legged Gull but, as usual, the rest doesn't add up. Here's some more views of the left hand bird.

Hybrid Gull - Topsham 29/4/2014

Hybrid Gull - Topsham 29/4/2014

Hybrid Gull - Topsham 29/4/2014

The legs and feet are a kind of salmon pink, looking a little orange at times, the primaries show rather obvious white tongue-tips on P5-7 and, typically for such birds, the band on P5 is very thin. I can't be sure but this may be the same bird as one I photographed on the 2nd April.

At first I thought the other bird looked rather better as a michahellis, then I saw the legs and the spread wing.

Hybrid Gull - Topsham 29/4/2014

Hybrid Gull - Topsham 29/4/2014

Hybrid Gull - Topsham 29/4/2014

Hybrid Gull - Topsham 29/4/2014

There's a large mirror on P9 this time, it's got the same obvious white tongue-tips and P5 is nowhere near complete, there are just a couple of tiny paired triangles. This primary pattern closely matches a bird photographed on 2nd April so presumably the same.

I'm starting to see a pattern here, these 'mixed' birds are looking rather similar - the same mid-grey mantle tone, the same salmon-pink or pinkish yellow legs and feet and the same kind of primary pattern with white tongue-tips and thin or broken P5 band. If they are a stereotyped hybrid form, maybe I should give them a name, 'Topsham Gull' anybody?

Two 2nd year gulls - contrast and compare

24th April 2014 - Topsham

Fresh juvenile Herring and Lesser Black-backed Gulls can look confusingly similar (to me anyway) in late summer, here's how different they can appear by the following spring. Both birds from Topsham Rec this morning - apart from newly arrived Reed Warblers singing and a few Greenshanks still fueling up it was a quiet day.

First a 2nd calendar year/1st cycle Herring Gull; all scapulars 2nd generation but very  worn and bleached, all tertials and coverts retained juvenile feathers and also much the worse for wear, the median and lesser coverts are particularly pale, the darker marginal coverts just visible at the bend of the wing have presumably been more shielded from the elements.

Herring Gull 2cy - 24/4/2014 Topsham

Herring Gull 2cy - 24/4/2014 Topsham

Now at the other extreme here's a 2nd calendar year/1st cycle Lesser Black-backed Gull. It's basically the same age as the Herring Gull, and likewise the scapulars are all 2nd generation, the coverts and tertials are all retained juvenile feathers. The rear lower scapulars are later grown and plainer and darker than the older upper scapulars. The tertials and inner greater coverts are fairly worn though still quite dark, the rest of the wing coverts are still pretty fresh - dark with neat pale fringes.

Lesser Black-backed Gull 2cy - 24/4/2014 Topsham

Lesser Black-backed Gull 2cy - 24/4/2014 Topsham

As I said somewhere else: never a dull moment...honestly!

Never a dull moment

22nd April 2014 - Topsham

I know this is getting to be a regular feature on this blog, but here's another apparent hybrid gull from Topsham Rec this afternoon. It had a darker mantle than the Herring Gulls alongside (though possibly a little too dark) and yellowish legs (though the colour was not really bright or deep enough) but it ultimately failed as an acceptable michahellis on it's primary pattern - a very thin black band on P5 as well as rather too obvious white 'tongue tips' behind the black on P5 & P6. I don't think I can match this with a previously photographed bird so it appears to be a new individual, yet another presumed Herring x Lesser Black-backed Gull.

Hybrid Gull - 22/4/2014 Topsham

The mantle is clearly darker than adjacent HG and paler than the LBBG on the right. The legs and feet are yellowish or yellow/pink, not deep bright yellow.

Hybrid Gull - 22/4/2014 Topsham

Hybrid Gull - 22/4/2014 Topsham

Hybrid Gull - 22/4/2014 Topsham

P7-10 look fine for michahellis but note the white 'tongue tips' behind the black on P5 & 6 and the fine black band on P5.

Hybrid Gull - 22/4/2014 Topsham

Just supposing for a minute that these dark-mantled yellow-legged gulls are all extreme examples of michahellis, why the very atypical P5, the dull yellowish legs and why are they nearly all small, apparently female birds? Is anyone else seeing these birds or are they just following me around?

Greenland Wheatear, probably...

19th April 2014 - South Wales

A family visit to Porthcawl gave me an opportunity for a couple of early morning walks along the beach at Kenfig. With the golf course, the new (and newly storm-wrecked) plastic boardwalk and with the Port Talbot steel works always in sight the scenery is fairly dismal at times but once on to the dunes at least there's no lack of interest.

There were a few Whimbrel and Ringed Plover on the rocks at Sker Point and a steady stream of Swallows flew north, on the sandy dunes I found a handful of White Wagtails and about 30 Wheatears formed a loose flock on the short turf behind the beach. Many, if not all, were probably of the Greenland/Arctic Canada subspecies leucorhoa. Here's a typical male; heavy bodied and long-winged with rich orange buff underparts extending all the ways to the rear flanks and vent.

Wheatear prob. leucorhoa - 19/4/2014 Kenfig

Wheatear prob. leucorhoa - 19/4/2014 Kenfig

While I realise that wing measurements would be needed to confirm identification as leucorhoa, given the date, the long wings and the rich coloured underparts, it would be perverse not to call this at least a probable Greenland Wheatear.

Goosemoor Greenshanks

12th April 2014 - Topsham

For a change I spent a couple of hours looking over Bowling Green Marsh from the lane - much better views than from the hide. Plenty of Sand Martins passed through, with a few Swallows and my first House Martins of the year. The Great Crested Grebe - a rare bird this far up the estuary - was still hanging around and a small flock of Whimbrel flew over. As expected, the rather splendid breeding plumage Spotted Redshank dropped in with the other waders but was over 200m distant - this is nearly always the problem at BGM and one more reason to avoid the fairly pointless hide.

I looked in at Goosemoor on the way home and found a dozen or so Greenshanks and Black-tailed Godwits feeding close in by the main viewpoint. This place has real potential and, although I still don't like the 'letterboxes', at least the birds sometimes come very close. I have a suggestion though: I've noticed that birds are alarmed by movement behind the fence highlighted against the sky and, since not everyone is prepared to sneak in at a crouch, why not put up a screen behind the view holes to avoid silhouetting?

Greenshank - 12/4/2014 Topsham

Greenshank - 12/4/2014 Topsham

Greenshank - 12/4/2014 Topsham

Greenshank - 12/4/2014 Topsham

Greenshank - 12/4/2014 Topsham

They're not brilliant but probably the best photos of Greenshanks I've ever managed - it's just a shame the Spotted Redshank wasn't with them.

More Glaucous Gull

8th April 2014 - Exmouth

Once again (no) apologies for more gull photos but I dropped in on the Exmouth Glaucous Gull again this morning. As usual, it was hanging around the harbour entrance and obligingly flew down for a late breakfast of some bread and cornflakes. Of course, the idea was to bring in the rather more elusive Kumlien's Gull - it didn't. Still, not to waste an opportunity, I took a few more photos of this fascinating bird. These are some where I managed to get the whole bird in the frame - it was close.

Glaucous Gull 3cy - 8/4/2014 Exmouth

Glaucous Gull 3cy - 8/4/2014 Exmouth

Glaucous Gull 3cy - 8/4/2014 Exmouth

Glaucous Gull 3cy - 8/4/2014 Exmouth

Glaucous Gull 3cy - 8/4/2014 Exmouth

I didn't notice at the time, only when checking the photos later, but primary moult has started - P1 has been dropped on both wings; they were both present on the 4th. It would be great if this bird decided to hang around a few months so if you go down there don't let it go hungry - I admit sliced white bread and cornflakes aren't the healthiest diet, there's a fish shop round the corner.

So now we have a bird in it's third calendar year (it hatched in summer 2012), I suppose you could now call it a second summer (its first summer as a fledgling doesn't count) and, since it's now started growing its third set of primaries, it's in its third (moult) cycle; take your pick.

Four Gulls

2nd April 2014 - Topsham

More in hope than expectation I spent a few hours at The Rec on Wednesday in case the Kumlien's Gull performed an encore. It would have been nice to get some photos in better light but of course it was a no show. However, I was entertained by a number of interesting gulls, four adults which initially showed signs of being michahellis Yellow-legged Gulls.

Yellow-legged Gull ad - 2/4/2014 Topsham

Yellow-legged Gull ad - 2/4/2014 Topsham

1st bird (above): this may be the most straightforward of the lot; it has a distinctly darker mantle than Herring Gull and fairly bright yellow legs, however it's does raise a few questions. It has a good amount of black on P8 and 9 but it does blend into the grey more than I'd like. It has a large white tip to P10 - complete on the right wing, broken by a tiny black mark on the left - and a good sized mirror on P9; this pattern is more usual on males but this appears to be a female based on size and structure. It's hard to make out but the orbital ring and gape don't seem to be the expected deep red.

On balance, I think this is probably just about acceptable as a Yellow-legged Gull.

Hybrid ? Gull ad - 2/4/2014 Topsham

Hybrid ? Gull ad - 2/4/2014 Topsham

2nd bird (above): this bird is similar to the first in some ways but there are rather more problems with it. It shows two big mirrors on P9 &10, the amount of black on P8 & 9 is good but again it's not sharply demarcated from the grey base. There are long black tongues on the outer webs and quite obvious white spots behind the black on P6 & 7 and there is only a thin broken band on P5, these are all odd for michahellis. As with the 1st bird, the orbital ring and gape are not red, on this one the legs are also an unusual colour, yellowish but with pink showing from some angles.

I can't be sure that this is a hybrid but there is too much wrong with it to be a certain michahellis.

Hybrid ? Gull ad - 2/4/2014 Topsham

Hybrid ? Gull ad - 2/4/2014 Topsham

3rd bird (above): as with the others I picked this out by it's darker mantle and on the water it looked pretty good for a female michahellis. When it flew it was clear that it wasn't. The outer primaries look fine, a lot of black down to P8 and sharp borders against the grey but there is only a thin broken band on P5. It might be possible to overlook the latter but the legs and feet are a dull pink.

This shows such obvious mixed characters that it's surely a hybrid?

Yellow-legged Gull ad - 2/4/2014 Topsham

Yellow-legged Gull ad - 2/4/2014 Topsham

4th bird (above): again a dark-mantled bird with yellow legs, the primary pattern looks fine until we get to the thin black band on P5 - not impossible on michahellis but unusual, or rather it's supposed to be, I seem to get more than my fair share.

This is probably just a (slightly odd) Yellow-legged but I guess I've become suspicious since I see so many birds with that odd P5 pattern, often with other more clearly mixed characters.

A final thought: why do so many of the 'Yellow-legs' at Topsham Rec look to be small, almost dainty birds, usually quite unimpressive next to Herring Gulls?

'A straightforward Iceland Gull' - and why it was probably a Kumlien's

What did I say? 'no problem as to species'. Well that's the problem with blogging, your mistakes are there for all to see, and some things are just above my pay grade. Without photos I might have got away with it, but then who'd be reading this?

Of course, I did consider Kumlien's at the time, but it looked so pale and the primaries looked so white that the thought didn't last. When Martin Elliott saw a few of photos he came back with 'looks more like Kumlien's to me'. I went back through the nearly 300 photos I took, selected all those showing an open wing and increased the contrast and saturation somewhat. Here are a few of the more informative ones; as usual, clicking on the photo will enlarge it.

probable Kumlien's Gull - Topsham 1/4/2014

probable Kumlien's Gull - Topsham 1/4/2014

probable Kumlien's Gull - Topsham 1/4/2014

probable Kumlien's Gull - Topsham 1/4/2014

probable Kumlien's Gull - Topsham 1/4/2014

probable Kumlien's Gull - Topsham 1/4/2014

probable Kumlien's Gull - Topsham 1/4/2014

probable Kumlien's Gull - Topsham 1/4/2014

probable Kumlien's Gull - Topsham 1/4/2014

Obviously the Sun was bright and the bird was backlit, I compensated as well as I could but some of the whites are burnt out. Added to that this is a very bleached individual, very much paler than a well-marked Autumn juvenile, and as such perhaps unidentifiable with absolute certainty. Nevertheless, I think it's clear that there is some grey-brown shading on the outer primaries which, since an Iceland Gull in this state should show a more or less pure white outer wing, is a good indicator of Kumlien's - 'brownish wash on outer primaries versus evenly pale primaries on Iceland' (Howell & Dunn 2007), and 'dark outer webs create darker outer wing than in glaucoides, appearing concolorous with inner wing and typically plain, with brown wash centred along primary shafts, spreading onto both webs' (Olsen & Larsson 2004).

The mostly dark bill is suggestive of Kumlien's, '(Kumlien's) bill typically blackish with dull flesh to flesh-pink basally...(Iceland) bill often brightens to flesh with fairly clean-cut blackish distal third' (Howell & Dunn 2007), and 'most kumlieni have black bill with slightly paler brown base...most glaucoides have bicoloured bill' (Olsen & Larsson 2004).

The tail was quite well marked for such a bleached bird, showing darker centres and diffuse barring, paler towards the tip with thin dark sub-terminal marks.

probable Kumlien's Gull - Topsham 1/4/2014

probable Kumlien's Gull - Topsham 1/4/2014

probable Kumlien's Gull - Topsham 1/4/2014

probable Kumlien's Gull - Topsham 1/4/2014

While not conclusive - as usual there's too much variation - this tail pattern favours Kumlien's, Iceland typically has a plainer tail.

So a Kumlien's then? Well I'm pretty convinced at least although I wouldn't bet my life on it. Sometimes, with some birds, certainty is never going to be a rational position. I doubt now if it would have made much difference if the light had been better, and at least I didn't need to worry about shutter speeds. While a close look under flat bright light would have brought out more detail - and made for some much nicer photos - I still think it would be nigh impossible to be 100% certain with such a bleached bird.

Many thanks to this blog's Gull Consultant Martin Elliott for his informed and always patient advice.

It goes without saying that I'd love to hear other views on this, so comments welcome as ever.

Edit: Dave Stone just managed to get down to see the bird before it flew and got a few photos. This shot of the spread wing shows rather more detail than mine and would appear to put the matter beyond much doubt.

http://davesbirdingdiary.blogspot.co.uk/2014/04/iceland-gull-larus-glaucoides-topsham.html 

 

References

Howell, S.N.G. & Dunn, J.L. 2007. Gulls of the Americas (Peterson Reference Guides). Houghton Mifflin Harcourt.
Olsen, K.M. & Larsson, H. 2004. Gulls of Europe, Asia and North America. A & C Black.