Rapidly Revisting a Recently Revisited Gull

Well that lasted long....

I want to highlight this comment that I made in my post yesterday, the post where I proclaimed how I thought I had dug out a few old photos depicting a sub-adult Caspian Gull on the Axe...

"When you decide you are going to take an interest in gulls, you go on a journey.  It's a never ending journey really".

It really is a never ending journey, because this morning I woke up to some surprising messages from some well respected 'gullers'; "Looks more like a Yellow-legged to me".

What really is interesting, is this isn't the only messages I've received.  In all eight people have commented about the gull pictured yesterday, through various means.  Four of these have said they think it looks better for a Yellow-legged, whereas four have agreed with my Caspian Gull ID.  So at four all does that mean I have the casting vote?

Well, no.

Needless to say I will no longer be submitting this as a Caspian Gull, too many people think it isn't one. What I think is now irrelevant. 

So to completely summarise this and my last blog post... 11 years ago I was right. I was right to leave this gull unidentified, and that's how it shall remain...

Revisiting a Gull of the Past

I'm about to do something I have never done before, submit a description to the Devon Birds Records Committee of a bird that I saw over 11 years ago!

Let me explain... When you decide you are going to take an interest in gulls, you go on a journey.  It's a never ending journey really. At first you bumble your way through the flocks, getting over excited by gulls that 'look like X' and of course, you will make mistakes. But as the years go by, experience comes on your side, and that is why I need to revisit this bird.

On 23rd Dec 2008 I saw a gull that at the time had me scratching my head.  First I thought I had a sub-adult Yellow-legged, but its legs had no hint of yellow and the mantle didn't quite seem dark enough, so Caspian came to mind. However when it revealed its bill I was put right off that idea, not a bill to brag about.  I took a few photos, but then the darn thing took off and flew out to sea.  Gone for good, and I was convinced at the time with the few photos I had nothing would ever come of it.

11 years more experience and I can see I was wrong. When I look at the photos now, it's a Caspian Gull..

Axe Estuary 23rd Dec 2008

I am practically banging my head against a wall as I write this...

Bill aside -  this is a Caspian Gull.  And looking closely at the pics, I actually think there is enough here to present a plausible case to the DBRC. I will keep you updated with how the submission goes, but why bother I hear you ask?  Well, this is at least a third-winter bird, maybe even a fourth-winter?  Which would constitute the most mature Casp to have graced the Axe to date - we are still waiting for an adult.  But most of all, back in 2008 Casps were still proper rare in the south west, and this would become just the third record for the county. So it's got to be worth a shot.  

I am hoping to find the original pics buried away somewhere on an external hard drive, but for now will have to use the pics from my original blog post to help explain my change of heart...

Looking at this pic I'm thinking...WHAT WAS I THINKING... even more!

Let's concentrate on its overall structure in the above pic, and this is where hybrids or Caspian Gull-lookalikes often let themselves down.  I wrote at the time how long-winged it looked at rest, and that can clearly be seen in this pic. Note also it's high and 'puffed up' chest, giving it the distinctive cachinnans-look.  The legs are also classic Casp, long and thin compared to the first-winter Herring Gull front left. Whilst on the topic of legs, they are the perfect sub-adult Casp straw-colour too, not pink like a Herring of similar age.

Heads-up Steve's made a balls-up

Let's look at mantle colour now, a shade darker than the adult Herring Gull behind, and lacking the blue-tinge of this species.  This is paler however than an adult Yellow-legged Gull should look, and once again perfect for a Casp.  

The best view of its head

So let's look at its head now and isn't it white!  Not a speck or blemish, which is fairly unusual for an adult large gull pre-Christmas. Even an ad Yellow-legged usually shows some flecking, but this is completely clean.  And of course we have that typical small beady black eye that you find in adult and near-adult Casps. Head shape certainly looks nice and rounded as well, although I don't think any of my pics show its head shape well.

But now it's time to talk about the elephant in the room.... the bill. Well it's certainly not going to poke anyone's eye out, but it is narrow and parallel. Not every Caspian Gull is as well endowed as the next. 

Time to zoom in on the wing...

Bit blurry I'm afraid

 So here we can see the upperside of its wing, and note the great big chunk of black on p5. 

Having a good old preen

In this pic you can just see the underside of the nearest wing, and note the large window on p10, a typical Caspian trait.   Look again at mantle colour compared to the Herring Gull, it's darker and greyer but not by much. Legs are also showing well in this pic, strikingly long and thin.

The one thing that I still can't make my mind up on is it's age.  Clearly not an adult, with that black smudge on one of its tertials and a bit of a darkness on the beak above the red spot - but is it too 'adulty' for a third-winter?  I think I would have expected a pinker bill with some hints of a necklace if it were a third-winter, and possibly a bit more evidence of younger feathers in the wing?  But maybe I'm wrong. Again.

As ever, if you have some thoughts do share them with me. Oh and here's the original blog post, which illustrates nicely my naive chain of thoughts at the time; http://stevesbirdingblog.blogspot.com/2008/12/one-for-larid-enthusiasts.html

A Casp Double

It's a funny old game this birding.

October was for the most part a wet and windy month, so of course I spent as much time as I could scanning through the gull flocks on the Estuary. I had far more time too, as had almost three weeks off work during the month. The grand result; a single Yellow-legged Gull.

This morning between giving lifts and putting toddlers down for a nap, I managed to muster up enough time to scope through my first gull flock of the month, a group of about 225 mostly Great Black-backed Gulls on Bridge Marsh. Within about thirty seconds I was looking at a stunning second-winter Caspian Gull, and then a couple of minutes later I was looking at a second one! This was the Axe's (and Devon's) second double dose of Casp (previously done on 14th Nov 2015 when I found a first and second-winter from Coronation Corner) and my 11th and 12th Casps for the Axe...

I have got a lot more to say about these stunning birds, but it's late and I have a two year old with a blocked nose, so for now just enjoy the photos...

Bird one, the more advanced of the two;

Bird two, a brutish yet elegant long-billed beaut;

I promise to do a follow post to these pics, as both birds are just such fab examples of pukka second-winter Casps. But for now, simply scroll up and enjoy the pics again. I can't stop looking at them that's for sure!

A little later in the day, eight Black Redstarts (including the ad male but no Common Redstart) were at Axe Yacht Club, but otherwise wind blown rarities were in short supply for us. 

A Galling Gull

A quick snoop around the patch early this morning showed a flock of 15 Sand Martin feeding over Colyford Marsh, but not a lot else...

I had two more trips out today, late morning and late afternoon, with gulls being the main focus. Among the 120+ Common Gulls on the Estuary were five Med Gulls (one first-summer, two second-summer and two adult summers). There weren't big numbers of large gulls on show today, but they did include this first-summer Caspian Gull*...

First views showed exactly what can be seen in the above pic. A strikingly white headed and breasted first-year gull, with extensive (almost complete) grey saddle, solidly faded dark brown tertials, plain (although very faded) greater coverts, and narrow pink legs with comparatively long tibia.  Overall it was a sizeable bird too, larger than the surrounding Herring Gulls.

My views of it were shocking mind, as you can tell from the below pics...

Frustrating I had to go before I'd even picked this bird up, so after ten minutes of watching it I really had to go!  But when I finally and begrudgingly did drive away, I suddenly realised how I may be able to get a closer view...

Oh yes much closer and clearer, but not the most helpful of angles. And now I really really really had to go!!

I desperately hope I or someone sees this bird again, because currently I'm just not quite happy with it.  I reckon if I'd been able to give it the time it deserved then I would have come away happy, but the bill size and shape, and dull grey mottling on flanks and belly are unsettling me... 

Is it a big male Casp, or do these features suggest some Herring influence?  Any comments as ever gratefully received.

The Thaw

Overnight last night there had been even more snow, and although it had stopped by dawn, we had a 100% white-out. An early morning trip out showed the local area looking incredibly beautiful...

Looking east along Seaton Beach

Looking west along Seaton Beach to Beer Head

Seaton from a distance

Axmouth from a distance

The A3052 at 8am. Most Monday mornings this would be busy with commuters and buses!

A random county lane - looking lovely!

Despite all the snow there were surprisingly few birds about. The only species that seemed to be struggling a bit were Meadow Pipits and the odd Chiffchaff, but there were no Golden Plovers or Lapwing, or that many thrushes really. Great news.

Mid morning the sun came out, so before lunch I enjoyed another quick whizz around. This showed a bit more variety, with eleven Dunlin, four Pintail (two pairs), three Gadwall and the lingering Marsh Harrier and first-winter Caspian Gull on the Estuary. Was nice to have some blue sky above the stunning snow too...

Colyford Marsh and the upper Axe Estuary

Bridge Marsh

Looking up the Axe from A3052

The welcome sun saw an increase in temperatures and an impressively rapid thaw. More birds appeared once this began, with lots of thrushes taking full advantage of the freshly revealed green, along with numerous Chiffchaff, Snipe and various wildfowl on Seaton Marshes mid afternoon...

Common Snipe

Common Snipe

Common Chiffchaff. So happy to see so many feeding well after picking up the dead bird yesterday.

Tim Wright scored our first Little Ringed Plover of the year an hour or so later on Colyford Marsh, does this mean we've finally seen the back of winter?

Caspian Gull Yet Again

Perfect weather today for large gulls on the Axe. In the end though the numbers were disappointing and I found nothing unusual in with them, well except for the lingering first-winter Caspian Gull (last seen on 26th Feb). I'm amazed at how infrequently we are seeing this lingering bird, just where is it hiding?

I will be honest, although all views of it were distant and during dreadful weather, when I first picked it up I thought I had a new individual. It just looked big, proper Casp leggy and necky, plus it looked quite a clean bird - all unlike the lingering bird...

Look at that neck!

At rest

The whole gull flock was then flushed and the Casp took to the air...

Quality completely naff as its a video still

Ditto, but it does at least show some of the classic Casp features

A minute later once most the gulls had gone with only about 25% of the original flock remaining, I picked it up again, now a little closer. It was then obvious that on plumage it was the lingering bird, with the distinctive patterning on the greater coverts a perfect match...

Looks really beaky in this shot. Again totally different to how the lingering bird usually looks

The weather was so awful this photo almost looks black and white!

A good lesson in how different postures can alter the overall look of one gull.

Caspian Gull Again

Excellent numbers of large gulls on the Estuary again today. I must have gone along the river about five times during the day, as everything was just perfect. Lots of gulls, often nice flat light to scan through them, and the tide times couldn't have been better with mud on show virtually all day...

Looking north from Coronation Corner

Sadly though, despite all my efforts I couldn't manage anything better than the lingering first-winter Caspian Gull, which I can't really complain about I suppose!  It spent most of the day (midday to 17:30 at least) down by the Tram Sheds. It's funny how whenever it is on the Estuary it is almost always at this end of the river...

Caspian Gull on the left

Although it's moulted a bit since I last saw it, still shows the pale areas on its tertials and greater coverts, the two knackered upper most tertials and all that flank mottling.

Nice comparison shot with a first-winter Great Black-backed Gull

It was nice to bump into County Recorder Kev during one of my visits, who dropped in on the off-chance on his way back from Radipole.  This was his first Axe Casp and I felt somewhat ashamed to show it to him, as this remains my least favourite of all the Axe Casps. It's such a small bodied, small-billed and 'dirty' looking individual, I like my first-winters big and bright!

This morning the Marsh Harrier was again hunting over Colyford Marsh. This is the longest staying Marsh Harrier in Axe history, and is a very welcome addition to the Axe wintering bird population...

A first-winter bird

Although the following pic isn't great, it does show the gorgeous colour of this bird's underparts. Can you get any more chocolate-brown than this...

I almost want to eat it!

Lastly, part-time patch birder Mike, who lives in Derby but often comes down here to visit his parents, texted me this afternoon with news of a locally staggering flock of 20 Pintail in off the sea late this afternoon. The start of some cold weather movement?

Caspo Number Ten!

There's been really good numbers of large gulls on the Estuary today, including notably more Great Black-backed Gulls which is always a good sign (means they're coming in from the sea). I was really hoping for a white-winger, but a text from Gav informing me of a Caspian Gull just before 3pm had me hurrying down to the Estuary.

Just as I pulled up at the lower end of the Estuary Gav informed me it had flown south, but luck was on my side as I could see it flying towards me low over the water. Pleasingly it landed again and remained here until at least 5pm...

First-winter Caspian Gull

Front to back; first-winter Herring Gull, first-winter Caspian Gull, second-winter Great Black-backed Gull

Front to back; second-winter Herring Gull, first-winter Herring Gull, first-winter Caspian Gull

Although I marvel at every Caspian Gull I see, as first-winter Casps go this isn't the best. It's bill in particular is pretty feeble, being only slightly narrower and longer than the nearby Herring Gulls. Also note how mottled the flanks are and it even has a bit of a shadow around it's eye.  Still a striking looking thing though.

It's definitely not the whiter than white bird I saw on the Axe on 9th January, but it clearly is the other Casp that's been seen here this year.  Gav thought he'd found this bird on 22nd January, but a few days later it came to light Tim White had photographed it on the Axe back on 17th January.  This bird is distinctive enough from all the points I listed in the paragraph above (bill size and mottling), but it shows a couple more characteristic plumage traits too...

First-winter Caspian Gull

The red arrow is pointing to my favourite feature on this particular Caspian Gull, that lovely little pale line formed by the tips of the median coverts. It's really noticeable on this bird at rest.  Then we have the two red 'circles'. The top one highlights the contrast between the lower moulted tertials, and the upper two unmoulted ones, which look completely knackered and are much browner in colour. The lower 'circle' highlights all that white in the greater coverts, inline with where they meet the lower tertials. This feature is really noticeable, even on distant pics of this bird. Most first-winter Casps show a neat and even white line along the tips of all the greater coverts. 

You can see pretty much all these features on all the previous photos of this bird, which Gav has put together in a blog post HERE.

So this is my tenth Caspian Gull for the Axe, I can't wait for number eleven!

White-fronted Goose and Caspian Gull

Well that was an exciting hour out!

Mid afternoon Ian Mc texted with news of our second White-fronted Goose in three years on Colyford Marsh. But he soon texted again with more news, it had flown off... Thankfully Martin Wolinski was in the Tower Hide and phoned in excitement as an adult White-fronted Goose had just landed on the mud in front of him. Thanks for the call Martin.

By the time I got out this afternoon, it was back on Colyford Marsh where it thought it was a Shelduck...

But quickly saw sense, flew south, and decided it actually wanted to be a gull...

Although this is our second in three years, I missed the last one so it's my first on patch for a staggering six years and three months! The last one I saw/found here was a Greenland flavirostris bird. My last European White-front albifrons was six months before that, also a lone adult bird, but oddly in the month of May!  White-fronted Geese are going the same way as all the grey goose species and winter swans for us, getting scarcer and scarcer. Whooper Swans and White-fronted Geese were virtually annual on the Axe ten plus years ago, presumably it's the milder winters meaning these species simply don't need to fly as far south and west.

As the post title suggests, there was more to the afternoon than the Goose. Just before 4pm the White-fronted Goose disappeared (I think it followed a small flock of Canada Geese south west) but was, amazingly, replaced by a gorgeous snowy-headed first-winter Caspian Gull! Another somewhat overdue bird, as I said the other day, our first since Nov 2015.  

This is the seventh Caspian Gull I've found here, the ninth I've seen here (the Axe's thirteenth), and was just as gorgeous as all of them, but it was without doubt the most frustrating. My first views of it were very distant and in rapidly diminishing light. I drove to a different view point where it was closer, but after a brief clear view, gull after gull decided to stand in front of it before the whole flock took to the air and the Casp flew off south. Arse. Hopefully it sticks around.

So my first views looked like this...

Knowing the pictures would be so poor, I tried a video. This didn't prove much better...

Then I moved. Head and back end showing well here, just missing the middle bit (second gull left of the male Mallard)...

Not even a head in this picture, but it does show the wing quite well (note the solidly dark tertials with narrow pale tips, plain greater coverts and the amount of grey on the mantle)...

See what I mean - frustrating. I never managed the money shot, but thankfully saw all the key features, and most are visible in these pics somewhere (though some squinting may be required!). It wasn't a massive bird, larger than surrounding Herrings but not by much, and although its bill was narrow and longer than the Herrings, again it wasn't massive. This makes me think it's a female.  

My photos are so poor that I'm not going to do my usual 'this is what makes it a Caspian Gull' notes. I will if I get some better shots I promise.

So great to see on social media that lots of people are coming over/getting out to enjoy the Colyford Common Water Pipits. They really are great value, I can't recommend them enough. And as today proves, who knows what else you might find...