Birds

Gulls at Appleford 30/11/11

This is the Iceland Gull found by Tom Wickens this morning. These poor video grabs were obtained mid afternoon. The general blotchy look to the scapulars, the sharply defined dark on the bill with a fine pale tip (inset middle pic), the pale iris and the finely marbled tertials indicate a 2nd winter, a rare age class in Oxon.

The bird above is not the regular, classic looking Caspian Gull that has been visiting Appleford over the last few weeks. It is a very odd gull, obviously with cachinnans tendencies but very heavily marked scapulars. The most strange thing was its state of moult. It had second generation tertials, all inner greater coverts and many other wing coverts. It even had a third generation tertial on the left side and one or two third generation greater coverts on both wings. Intriguingly it was carrying a yellow ring on its right leg. It would be good to get the number so the parentage can be confirmed. Gulls have been given yellow rings over the last three years from colonies in Lithuania and Poland; they included Yellow-legged, Caspian and Herring Gulls and their hybrids.

- Didcot Landfill - 15th November
Didcot Landfill (no general access): Caspian Gull 2, 1st w and 2nd w Yellow-legged Gull 4 ...

- Didcot Landfill - 13th October
At Didcot landfill (no general access): Caspian Gull 2 adults Yellow-legged Gull 12+ Common Gull 2 GBbGull 17                                                ...

- Farmoor Roost 6.30-8.20pm
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- Farmoor: 15th November - Caspian Gull
This 2nd winter Caspian Gull was a surprise find seeing as there were so few gulls in the roost.                                                             ...

- Farmoor Roost - 21st August.
Juvenile Caspian Gull Juvenile Caspian Gull Nice pale under-wings.Excellent roost conditions this evening. There was a juvenile Caspian Gull on F.1 from 20.05 'til dusk. The above video grabs don't do this terrific bird any justice but it actually...

Birds