Yesterday at Kirkby-on-Bain Pits we identified two adult Caspian Gulls in 3 hours of searching.
The first was seen only sitting on the water until it flew rapidly away giving us no adequate view of it wing pattern, and thus we did not see its legs or any of those standing features illustrated in the guides. However, it showed a long narrow bill, small head and a dark eye in comparison to the Herring Gulls in the vicinity and it was, perhaps a shade darker? though it spent all of the observation time on its own
http://www.lincsbirds.co.uk/album/displ ... pos=-13069The second bird seemed a little shorter in the bill but again showed a relatively small head and again was maybe a little darker than Herring Gulls. However, this bird had the decency to open its wings and show a couple of pretty conclusive features. The bird has moulted P7 and P8 but P5 shows a clear black bar and on the outer primaries P9 and P10 the distinctive long white 'tongues' can clearly be seen.
http://www.lincsbirds.co.uk/album/displ ... pos=-13068http://www.lincsbirds.co.uk/album/displ ... pos=-13067These are difficult birds to identify with confidence and we'd appreciate any constructive comments.
Also present
2 Ad Yellow=legged Gulls
John with Phil, Rick and Rob
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