Saturday 31 January 2009

Armenian Gull (Larus armenicus), 4cy, 7.11.2008, Ras Shu Kheir Sewage Farm, n.f. Hurghada, Egypt

Note dark eye and yellow bill with a prominent gonys-spot developing, dark markings and ivory tip giving a four-coloured appearance.

Note yellow legs.

Note the relative short, heavy and stubby bill. Nostrils are triangular being broad in front and narrow at rear.

The head is faintly dark stribed in winter with coarser spots on hindneck.

Note that underside of secondaries appear as a darker grey rectangle against the white underwing coverts and the broad white trailing edge to the secondaries.

Note that trailing edge is very broad on secondaries and narrow on inner primaries.

In flight the species appears rather stocky and flat bellied. Note the primary moult with p8 almost fully grown, p9 almost half grown and p10 not even visible.


Note relatively dark grey upperparts with extensive black and clear-cut wing tip.

Monday 12 January 2009

Herring Gull (Larus argentatus) with extra small white apical spots

This argentatus has unusual small white apical spots on the exposed primaries and together with the advanced moult towards summer plumage this gives associations towards cachinnans or michahellis, but both these southern species can safely be ruled out on upperpart colour, proportions, argentatus-jizz and other plumage details not visible in the photos, but seen when bird in flight


Herring Gull (Larus argentatus), ad, 8.1.2009, Aarhus East Harbor

Black-headed Gull (Larus ridibundus) with aberrant colours or leucisme




Black-headed Gull (Larus ridibundus), adult, 8.1.2009, Århus Harbor, this leucistic ridibundus have been seen in the central part of Aarhus Harbor for at least the last eight winters making it rather old.