Ringed Audouin's Gull in Israel

[marsmuusse]

On 28 March 2012 Ehud Dovrat has read a white codering IJZD on left leg of Audouin's Gull. It appeared to be 3cy bird, with a small black band on the tail. The bill was mostly red with a large black tip. It was discovered in Ashdod penatration ponds (31.51N 34.40E). This location is checked on gulls very regularly, so it seems likely the bird did not spend the entire winter at this location. Audouin's Gull is rare in Israel and this is the first ring of this gull species. Just two days earlier, Amir Ben Dov photographed an unringed Audouin's at the very same location. Ehud immediately received a note back from Nicola Baccetti of the Italian Istituto Superiore per la Protezione e la Ricerca Ambientale (ISPRA). Nicola is ringing Audouin's for a long time now, and this is the first bird from Sardinia that is reported to the east! White IJZD hatched 2010, and had already been reported from Morocco (which is the usual destination for Italian Audouin's) in 2010.
It seems reasonable to assume this bird made it's way back from the wintering grounds in Morocco, flying eastwards into the Mediterranean and overshooting the island of Sardinia and finding itself at the end of the Med Sea in Israel.

The beautiful images below, of course, by Amir.