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This gull bears a metal ring of the Polish Ringing Centre (Gdansk Poland). It might even be possible to identify the last two numbers (upper row) of the ring number?

I have no idea about the species. Larus Poliscka?

The longevity record for Black-headed Gull is currently held by Arnhem 3.275.396 * ringed as chick on 25 June 1978. * last observation (metal ring read) on 21 March 2011 (Zoetermeer, ring read by Benny Middendorp). * elapsed time 32 years, 8 months and 24 days. See a recently published paper in Dutc...

hi Lou, It seems likely to me that this Black-headed Gull has been colour-ringed in the eastern part of Germany (the former East-Germany), as all species of gulls colour-ringed in this part of Germany have colour-rings that start with an 'X'. You might contact: (1): Hendrik Trapp h-trapp@web.de Ring...

In terms of heinei , I have read that this type of pattern could indicate that form but cannot find any definitive heinei pics with anything other than a white rump and uppertail in 1st winter. But heinei pics seem very difficult to source. Are there any galleries on the web? I have seen the Kazakh...

It is not uncommon for an adult Black-headed Gull in non-breeding plumage to have two of these bands. See e.g. http://frankmajoor.nl/PDF/Kokmeeuwen-Gooi-Vogeljaar-95.pdf for more information on the individual variation in the non-breeding plumage of adult Black-headed Gulls (page 152 and 153, in Dut...

hi Michal, Thanks for your explanation and please excuse me for the delay of my reply. I think it is a good descision of the Polish Ringing Centre to use this kind of names for gulls breeding in a mixed gull colony where Herring Gull and Caspian Gull both are breeding, and where a variety of hybrids...

Recently, 2 colour-ringed gulls from a mixed colony in SW Poland were observed in the northern parts of The Netherlands. Both observations were ring readings of healthy birds. The official ring recovery report from the Polish Ringing Centre ('Ornitological Station Museum and Institute of Zoology PAS...

See http://www.ornisfennica.org/pdf/vol87-3/4Kylin.pdf Abstract: "After observing several nominate Lesser Black-backed Gulls ( Larus fuscus fuscus ) on Lake Tumba, Democratic Republic of the Congo, literature and museum studies were reviewed to compile observations of the species in the Congo basin....

Some photo's of taimyrensis (defined as breeding birds on the Taimyr peninsula) can be found on http://www.radioactiverobins.com/gulls/taimyrgull/taimyrgull.htm The paper has been submitted to Dutch Birding in March 2009, and currently the draft is edited by the editors. A nice paper on the occurenc...