Gulls with mixed features?

[hieraaetus]

Hi All,

I have some birds i think strange enough to upload here.

Any comments welcome.

Cheers,

Gabor

[Cristian Mihai]

Very interesting birds, Gabor.
I haven't seen such long tongues on a P10 of a Caspian (here it is what I call a typical Caspian Gull, pic taken today, in Bucharest: http://www.birdforum.net/gallery/showph ... user/54311) but I would say that in the first two pics are Caspian Gulls indeed.
I would also agree that in the next two pics it's a Yellow-legged Gull and in the last two a Caspian Gull (probably a male) with a strange coloured bill.

[hieraaetus]

Hi Cristian,

thanks for your comment.Yeah that kind of a bird I'm more used to as a CG.
I have checked your pix of YLGs from Bucharest. Have you ever seen an ad YLG with such a dark eye? The composition of the gulls should be similar to ours here in Hungary except that the Black Sea probably attracts some interesting gems like Heuglin's etc.
From where do you have ringed YLGs and other large gull species? We get them mostly from Croatia. not too many recoveries,though.

cheers,

Gabor

Very interesting birds, Gabor.
I haven't seen such long tongues on a P10 of a Caspian (here it is what I call a typical Caspian Gull, pic taken today, in Bucharest: http://www.birdforum.net/gallery/showph ... user/54311) but I would say that in the first two pics are Caspian Gulls indeed.
I would also agree that in the next two pics it's a Yellow-legged Gull and in the last two a Caspian Gull (probably a male) with a strange coloured bill.

[Cristian Mihai]

Hi Gabor,

I've seen some Yellow-legged Gulls with relative dark irises. I have tones of pics with Yellow-legged Gulls, so it's hard to find quickly an example. Lou knows my pics very well, so maybe he'll find one for you...
Now about the gulls from Bucharest. Yes, we have some interesting vagrants here (mainly during the winter). It seems that graellsi/intermedius are the most common LBB Gulls seen in Romania and I saw one in Bucharest this year, on August 12th (see: http://www.birdforum.net/attachment.php ... 1281629870). In the last two winters we saw three GBB Gulls in Bucharest (3cy/4cy all of them - some pics with the last one here: viewtopic.php?f=6&t=230). Last winter we also have here a Great Black-headed Gull (there are a few breeding pairs on the Romanian Black Sea coast). I haven't seen Mediterranean Gulls in Bucharest, but they are very common birds on the Black Sea coast during the migration and in the cold season (see: viewtopic.php?f=7&t=366). Little Gull is rather rare in Bucharest (I saw one last winter).

P.S. I haven't seen ringed gulls in Bucharest, but last winter a birding mate saw in a park in Bucharest a first winter Yellow-legged ringed in Croatia.