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Hi,
yesterday an incredible change happened here in Danube/Donau valley in central Austria. From one day to the next the michahellis flock (including the last Croatian ringed bird) disappeared and a larger flock with clearly dominating Caspian gulls was around the compost dump in Wörth!
This happens only if it becomes cold enough, otherwise they stay further north and only small numbers then occur.

Several Polish ringed birds among them, 6 yesterday and 4 today, also metalringed ones (most likely from Ukraine) and 2 metalringed HG. But it´s hard to read rings. Distance about 50 meters against the sun and all Polish rings with dirty yellowish inscription, not contrasting with the ground colour. Finally I could read 4 of them and additionally "I saved" 013P at home on the PC
All birds from the colony in Jankowice (southern Poland) so far, none of them was seen here in the last years. 2 adults, one 3rd winter and two 2nd winter.

Some overviews from today, no pic´s with details possible - still heavy traffic of rubbish trucks, I hope for quiet Christmas days there...





Only a few meters in front of my car - there was a metalringed cy1(left side, head covered by the fence) and - shame on me - I had overlooked a green ring, easy to read (right side with the orange on it´s right). But i had only seconds, because a truck was coming...



013P was most likely ringed as a nesting adult in Jankowice, 2006:



I hope I can continue from Christmas on, although the wheather should become much warmer.

Wolfgang

Hi,

today +4°C, the belt of ice around the pond smaller, so good possibilities to observe gulls and read rings. But only few ringed birds today.
The only colourringed one was 404P from Jankowice, one of the very few returning birds (already here last winter, they are really strongly migratory!)



This rings are really hard to read but the new ones are yellow with black inscription (I´m waiting still for the first one...)
Then I was lucky to read a Polish metalringed one: DN 20.642. Most likely one of Tomasz Iciek´s birds from western Poland, which has lost it´s colourring. A 3cy in spite of it´s white tail (some brown lesser coverts and small white wingtips).



And then I have found again this young girl from Ukraine (compared with Ronald Klein´s "old lady"). I have read it already last week, but was missing the first digit.
I had believed in T 005756, but it is L 005756. The first ringread metalringed CG from Ukraine in Austria!





These are some digiscopings made with poor light conditions without tripod through car window, but showing "details"
Wolfgang

Nice report Wolfgang, keep those pictures coming! Do you get any ringed Black-headed Gull on your dump?

Ruud Altenburg wrote: Do you get any ringed Black-headed Gull on your dump?

I look there for BHG rings every year from November on. Surprisingly no rings to see in the last days. But I had always several ringed birds in the last weeks. To read them is a hard job there
On this place so far I had rings from Czechia, Slowakia, Poland, Hungary, Lithuania, Finland, Switzerland and Sweden. None from the Netherlands they obviously like cities (2 findings in Vienna)...

This cy1 from Hungary (22.11.2009) was the very first colourringed one at this site!


BTW: Only one cr-Common Gull in all that years, from Poland.

Wolfgang

As the pictures from yesterday already are on my webspace, I can show them here too

Again 3 new colourringed from Jankowice/southern Poland:

3cy, maybe male: 184P


2cy, male, 424P, in the left DN 20642, female


2cy, maybe female: 467P


DN 20642, female
Bird is indeed from Tomasz Iciek, but was ringed without colourring.


1cy, female, L005756


All these rings not easy to read, so I expect no long life lists


Some argentatus:




Wolfgang

Pretty nice. Still waiting for the first recovery of "my" colour-ringed German Baltic argentatus in Austria.

Ronald Klein wrote:Pretty nice. Still waiting for the first recovery of "my" colour-ringed German Baltic argentatus in Austria.

Hope you can be satisfied now

Today I had this bird in Wörth on ice near the gull´s "bathing basin". Unfortunately the report via online database has brought no results, although I have no doubt about the reading of XCCM - see pictures below!

Last days I had very difficult circumstances in Wörth, very cold, so the gulls behaved very shy and they protected their legs in the water or in the plumage. In spite of this I was very lucky to read Ronald´s bird today and also the very first HG in Austria from the Russian White Sea - KH75! After having read the number the bird laid already down on ice, a classic argentatus with whitish head.

Only the 3rd present colourringed bird of the last days, a Polish cy3 cachinnans, stays a bit enigmatic, but I think it is 86P4, one of Greg´s birds.

And another season...

The very cold weather last days caused a sudden change - YLG disappeared and CG moved south, accompanied by some HG´s

I have started in Wörth today and found a good mix of metalrings, unfortunately all of them only partially read.
1 Herring Gull with Finnish ring (HT 2....)
1 old Caspian with relatively short yellow legs from Poland (DN 125xx)
1 3cy female Caspian with Lithuanian ring (EN xx075, maybe I try it, there is a chance to solve it by age)
1 1cy Caspian with Kiev ring (__010368, I hope this should be enough )

Later I visited the compost dump at Gneixendorf near Krems, 50 km west of Vienna). Good numbers of gulls there and fine to observe, but very difficult to read the rings in the snow.
I managed it to read 2 colourrings from Poland. At home I have found another ring on my flightshots: yellow PUND from Ukraine!
The flock consisted of dominantly CG, about 7 HG and only few 1 cy YLG. Some interesting birds among them especially a very pale 1cy CG, unfortunately in far distance (bad qulity of picture). The bird had pale grey tertials and coverts.

Wolfgang

Hi

PUND was the beginning of an influx of CG´s coming directly from Ukraine. On weekend I have managed it to read 2 further PUxx rings
Together with an additional metalringed bird this winter I have been able to read 4 Kiev-rings so far, until this year in total I had only one from last year...

On Saturday there was PUPS feeding at Woerth and later roosting at river Donau/powerstation Melk.
On Sunday I discovered PUBB feeding at Gneixendorf and roosting at river Donau/Krems.

3 colourrings read = more than 1% of birds ringed

In Krems I had one of Greg´s Polish birds too, already at Woerth last February.

Wolfgang

Very well done Wolfgang. You better change the title of the topic to "they go west".
Time to send some of these yellow rings to us.
Still no option / location to attract these birds with bread or food left-overs to get some close range shots and flight shots?