Monday 6 December 2021

redcar tarn sunday

 the morning was spent having brunch for brothers birthday 

so arrived at the tarn about 1130


first bird i noticed was very striking, i stupidly called this a caspian,but the more i watched it i had some doubts


gull sp


saturdays caspian


thinking the light was playing tricks i was happy with caspian until i started to go through the photos later

this was the ones that made me think 
very much a hybrid






i posted it a birdforum 

a reply from lou 

hi Darrel,

this 3rd cycle bird is not a Caspian Gull, on multiple traits like lack of large pale tongues, very small mirrors, no p4 marks, swollen and blunt bill tip. but what is it actually? that's not so easy. Yellow legs seem to suggest a YLG, but many things are wrong for a 3rd cycle michahellis, e.g. browish tertial centers and again, lack of a p4 mark, also the strongly immature character of this bird. So we have to look for a hybrid combination. My best guess is LBBG x HG for this bird. Short yellow legs and red orbital ring are pro LBBG, also the darkish mantle much black to p6-10. lack of a p4 mark, just a narrow p5 subterminal band and brownish tertial centers as well as largely brownish hue on greater coverrts probably are due to HG parentage. A more remote possibility would be a cachinnans x argentatus but that is quite unlikely with this combination of characters (just the dark iris would be ok). Another possibility is michahellis x argentatus.

so thanks lou 


i feel the bird has some caspian gull genes in it ie head shape and dark eye, along with the neck markings 


very educational bird 

jackdaw


rook


common gull 


herring gull 



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