www.gull-research.org

Last friday there were besides several adults also immature birds.


Caspian Gulls by Maarten W. Kaales, on Flickr


Caspian Gull 2nd cy (dec) by Maarten W. Kaales, on Flickr


Caspian Gull by Maarten W. Kaales, on Flickr


Caspian Gull by Maarten W. Kaales, on Flickr

hi maarten,

these are mostly 2nd cycle herring gulls (pics 1 and 4, 2 is prob. a 3rd cycle herring gull),
just the one in pic 3 could be a caspian gull but it has a lot of head striation and thus indicates at least some argentatus blood - if not a 3rd cycle argentatus itself...

regards,

lou

I agree. Maarten, have you uploaded the wrong set of photographs perhaps ?

The adults are here; viewtopic.php?f=10&t=421. But why are these not Caspian Gulls? What about their gonysangle? Can you illustrate it with some pics?

Maarten,
I am sure that, if you put less emphasis on such intangible things like 'structure' and 'jizz' for now, you will find that these immature birds all have the typical plumage of 2nd or 3rd-cycle Herring Gulls.
Just compare with field guides, Olsen/Larsson, or Ruud's website, for instance.

If I made such an error ... , I really have to study all plumages again. Of course I have the literature...

And there is a big difference with this bird, photographed in march 2009, Barnveld. So thanks for the comment.


Larus cachinnans 2nd cy (march) by Maarten W. Kaales, on Flickr