Yellow-legged and Caspian Gulls

A morning and early afternoon of almost constant heavy rainfall which meant I didn't venture out until mid afternoon. I decided to head to the RSPB reserve and check the gull roost on Burrowes. Over the past few days the number of roosting Great Black-backed gulls has gradually reduced or the later tide time change is affecting the number of visiting gulls that i'm seeing. A few days ago there were at least 1,000 Great Black-backed Gulls coming onto Burrowes to roost and bathe, today maybe 300 whilst I was there but still some good views opportunities to look through and check for Yellow-legged and Caspian Gulls.

I was also trying out some different camera settings in the relatively gloomy light conditions.

Two adult Yellow-legged Gulls (left and middle) and an adult Caspian Gull (right)

The Caspian Gull didn't hang around and flew off after finishing bathing. 

In the background is another adult Yellow-legged Gull.

On the left is yet another adult Yellow-legged Gull and on the right is a 3CY or a 2nd winter or 2nd Cycle, Caspian Gull

My understanding is that by now i.e. mid-January adult Herring Gull (Argenteus) should have a pure white head and Argentatus will have some streaks on the head. Maybe it's not as simple as that but I picked up this 'dark' mantled gull with a streaky head and initially thought, due to the colour of the mantle that it might be an adult yellow-legged gull. However, the head streaking didn't feel right and despite it washing, I couldn't make out the leg colour. Photos revealed a pink leg colour.

The dark mantle, bubblegum pink legs and long grey primary tongues with little black on the wingtips point to an Argentatus Herring Gull to me.

 

Adult Caspian Gull (left front), adult Yellow-legged Gull left (rear) and a 2nd winter Caspian Gull middle showing the dark centred tertials.

Altogether I had 6 Yellow-legged Gulls and 8 Caspian Gulls.

Bitterns

An early afternoon visit to Hanson Hide on the RSPB Reserve led to a new birding experience of two Bitterns in view at the same time. A scan from the hide along an adjacent reedbed edge revealed a Bittern stood at the edge of the reeds seemingly warming itself up in the sunshine against the cold north-easterly gusty wind. What I didn't realise was that a second Bittern was also in the reeds just to the right of the one I was focused on. Bitterns are highly territorial and it looks to me like these two Bitterns were potentially having a bit of a tiff.

The Bittern on the edge of the reeds then lept in to the reed bed seemingly chasing the other Bittern.

There then appeared to be a Bittern face off which lasted for 15 minutes before the furthest Bittern disappeared deeper in to the reeds. For all of this time of about 30 minutes, I was the only person in the hide.

On the other side of the reserve there were two beautiful adult Bewick's Swans on Burrowes Pit.

Then of course there are the gulls on Burrowes Pit. Yellow-legged Gull first winter (centre), first winter Caspian Gulls (right) and lower left with Herring Gull and first winter Great Black-backed (rear).

Happy Christmas

A quick visit to the Dungeness RSPB reserve in a bitterly cold north-easterly wind. The juvenile Great Northern Diver was still present at the north end of Burrowes Pit, five Avocets were standing on one of the submerged islands and three Goldeneye were feeding. Initially not many gulls appeared to be amongst the masses of Cormorants but gradually more started to arrive to roost, preen and bathe.

Avocets photo bombing three roosting adult Yellow-legged Gulls

3CY Caspian Gull X5KT ringed as a chick in 2023 in Germany  

Three sleeping Caspian Gulls an adult (left) a small 1w (middle) and a giant 1w (right) 

Yellow-legged Gull 2CY/3CY

December 8th

I'm not sure on the age of this bird but from the features I can see, I think it is a 2CY moving to a 3CY. 

Whilst showing pale yellow legs and medium grey upperparts, this 2CY/3CY year Yellow-legged Gull also shows solid black primaries with a small white mirror on P10. It has a clean white head and white tail. 

1.

2.

Extensive black patterning on primaries with only one white mirror. The pale tongues on P10 and P9 are short and do not extend more than half the length of the feather. Whilst no white tip appears to be on P8 there is one on P7 and P5 appears to have a complete black band.

3.

Contrasting blackish markings along the secondaries. The primaries have only short greyish or no tongues extending along these feathers on both the upperwing and underwing.

4.  

Pale eye

5.

Flying 2CY/3CY Yellow-legged Gull left, Adult Caspian Gull flying right 

6.

Flying 2CY/3CY Yellow-legged Gull left, Adult Caspian Gull flying right

Caspian Gull adult

In recent weeks there has been some great gull watching at Burrowes Pit on the RSPB Reserve and many great photos on Martins Blog PLODDINGBIRDER have incentivised a few visiting birders to start looking for Caspian and Yellow-legged Gulls. The recent totals of these two species (to date at Least 20 Caspian Gulls and nine Yellow-legged Gulls) mainly using Burrowes Pit, has given plenty of opportunities to try and identify various ages of Caspian and Yellow-legged Gull against the commoner species of Great and Lesser Black-backed and Herring Gulls.

I'm still a relative newcomer in respect of having the opportunity to sit and look through gulls and whilst many birders ignore gulls as too difficult, they are a fun and rewarding group on which to hone your identification skills. In this blog post and maybe a couple of other posts, i've tried  to provide a little bit of  information on identification features for Caspian and Yellow-legged Gull, mainly for my own benefit to understand if i'm getting it right or wrong along with a chance to compare and use the identification literature against my photos. So, if you want to, please feel free to comment on my id attempts and associated reasoning.

December 8th

In the shot below, there is an adult Caspian Gull which is just taking off and three Yellow-legged Gulls, a 3CY flying, a 2CY to the left of the adult Caspian Gull and an adult (third gull in from the right that is partially obscured). 

1.The adult Caspian Gull (before it took off), whilst showing the beady dark eye and lovely smallish pure white rounded head and long/pointed parallel billed head profile, has pale yellowish legs.

2.The yellowish looking legs confused me until I read much later that adults have pale yellow legs (in summer). Luckily other features to aid identification of adult Caspian Gull became more obvious when it flew. 

3.Primary 10 (P10) shows a long white tongue with very little black near the tip. Whilst this feather looks old, it is a typical adult feature. On the upperwing you can only just make out a narrow portion of the tongue but on the underwing, whilst still only a narrow section is visible you can see that it is long and whitish. There are also long white mirrors on P10 and P9, something which adult Yellow-legged Gulls don't show on P9. 

4.Another feature to support adult Caspian Gull is the presence of a tick mark on P4. In this photo the features on P10 and P9 are obscured. I reckon there is another possible feature in that the underwing is very pale with little contrast between the primaries, secondaries and underwing coverts. So, despite thinking this adult gull has dull yellow legs and pinkish feet, other features are good for supporting adult Caspian Gull. 

5.Adult Caspian Gull (left) and a 2CY Yellow-legged Gull (right)

Buff-breasted Sandpiper

I wasn't in the area on Monday 22nd when a Buff-breasted Sandpiper was found at Jury's Gap in the same field used by the Golden Plovers and American Golden Plover. By the time I returned to the area in the afternoon of the 23rd, the Buff-breasted Sandpiper had apparently been flushed by a couple of people and hadn't returned. I checked the same field twice on the 24th to no avail and had more or less given up on seeing it. However, a phone call today from Martin got me cycling out to fields at the back of Scotney where he had relocated it. The sandpiper wasn't associating with any other waders although earlier it had been with a flock of Lapwing. 

Many thanks to Martin for the call and for also staying near the bird so I knew where to go.

Buff-breasted Sandpiper

With the exception of Glossy Ibis, the RSPB reserve has been a bit quiet recently in respect of visiting shorebirds however, this flock of Knot at the Firth Lookout was a welcome sight especially as a single Curlew Sandpiper had joined them.

A flock of 22 Redshank were on the islands out from the picnic tables near Dennis's Hide.

A couple of Hobbies have recently been on the RSPB Reserve anywhere between Dengemarsh and Boulderwall. This adult Hobby was perched in Kenny's Fields.

On the 20th September there was a movement of hirundines comprising mostly Swallows but also House Martins and still the occasional Sand Martin. A mixed flock of c.2,000 House Martins and Swallows heading past the New Lighthouse and out to sea was an impressive sight.

Now that the wind has switched to the north-west the rewards of sea watching have become poor but before the switch in wind direction skuas, mostly Arctic, Sandwich Terns, Gannets, Shearwaters and the occasional Leach's Petrel, Storm Petrel and a Grey Phalarope could be seen off-shore.

Up to 20 Arctic Skuas have been lingering off-shore between Lade Bay and Rye Bay terrorising both feeding and migrating Sandwich Terns.

Arctic Skua chasing a Sandwich Tern

Manx Shearwaters

Arctic Skua

Our first Red-throated Diver of the autumn was on the 18th September.

This Yellow-legged Gull looks about as mean as they come!

Juvenile Gulls

You can get great views of Gulls at the point, especially when you tempt them with bread.

Yellow-legged Gull juvenile

Yellow-legged Gull juvenile

Yellow-legged Gull juvenile

Lesser Black-backed Gull juvenile

Yellow-legged Gull juvenile

Yellow-legged Gull and Herring Gull juveniles

Yellow-legged Gull juvenile

Two Yellow-legged Gull juveniles with four Herring Gull juveniles