Caspian Gull - Adult, Private Site, Essex 16th January 2010
Not a classic bird but the features are there:
· Slender, parallel sided pale yellow bill with dark marks on the red gonys spot and on the upper mandible above
· Small clean white head with sloping forehead
· The eye looks dark at range but is actually coffee coloured
· Mid grey upper-parts
· Slender pasty fleshy coloured legs
· Long primary projection, note P7 appears to missing thus creating a void in the wing
· Hanging rear belly.
Caspian Gull - Adult, Private Site, Essex 16th January 2010
Note:
- The lemony yellow parallel sided bill. The Gonydeal expansion is quite obvious on this bird, perhaps a male, but the bill tip tapers away.
- Darkish coffee coloured eye, appeared simply black at range
- Clean white head and under-parts, the throat is slightly extended as it had just swalled some rather unpleasant looking (see role over image on the wing spread shot below)
- Mid grey upper-parts
- Long Primary projection with large white tip to P10 and white/pale tongue extending along underside of same feather
- Long insipid grey legs
- Elongated appearance, this bird lacks the hanging belly of many typical adult Caspian Gulls
Caspian Gull - Larus cachinnans
Adults & Near Adults: page 2
Caspian Gull - Adult, Private Site, Essex, 16th January 2010
If there was ever a good adult Caspian Gull to photograph then this would be it. Note the elegant proportions; small head, proud puffed up breast, slender sloping back with no tertial step and tapering along the long primaries.
The bill is long, slender and pale lemony yellow with a dusky mark on the top of the red gonys spot and on the culman. The eye is dark and really stands out in the clean white face; the head is small with nice sloping forehead. Compare these features with the Herring Gulls at the rear.
The white tertial crescent is rather large and contrasts more strongly with the mid grey upper-parts than on the Herring Gulls at the back.
P10 has a large white tip and the white tongue that extends along the underside of the same feather is visible beyond the tips of the tertials. In life and in video footage the classic pattern could be seen during a full wing stretch.
This bird has fairly long and slender legs, though not overly so, and have a rather strong yellow cast to them. According to Olsen & Larsson about 12% of Ukranian Caspian Gulls show distinctly yellow legs so perhaps this birds has traveled from that region.
Caspian Gull - Adult, Private Site, Essex 16th January 2010
Same bird as in previous image but from this angle can now see the primary pattern well:
1: Large white mirror to P10 seperated from from the small white tip by a narrow band of black, typical of some Caspians but generally not commonly seen on the birds in south Essex for some reason.
2: Pale grey ventral tongues 'eating' into the black creating a fingered appearance
3: Large white tip to P5 with narrow black band, broader on the outer edges of both webs
4: White tongue extending along the underside of P10 almost as far as the white mirror
Also note that the black of the wing tip does not reach the greater primary coverts on P9 and P8 and then falls well short on all subsequent primaries.
Caspian Gull - Adult, Private Site, Essex 16th January 2010 Same bird as in previous image:
Here the primary pattern is obvious:
- Large white tip to P10
- Large white mirror to P9 but with the black of the outer web only extending up the feather
- Obvious pale grey tongues or ventral shafts eating into the black terminating in a white 'moon'
- Broad black band on P5
- Small dark mark on P4
Note on the left wing that there is very little black visible.
Roll over the image with the mouse to see an even wider open wing, not as sharp due to low shutter speeds at the time the picture was taken, but shows the streaked primary tip pattern.
Caspian Gull (same above and below) , Fourth-winter, Essex August 2010
This bird was also seen at the same location towards the end of July
Caspian Gull , moulting adult, Essex August 2010
A big bird; note the characteristic small head compared with the overall size and bulk of the body.
Caspian Gull , adult, Essex September 2010
A huge bird, dwarfed all the Herrings Gulls around it
- Note the bill length, shape and tone: lack of Gonydeal angle, tapering tip, evenly sided throughout the length and pasty yellow.
- The eye is slightly forward in the face and fairly large due to the bird being a male
- Retained old generation feathers can be seen, P10 on the left wing still shows the typical underside pattern, pale tongue.
Caspian Gull , adult, Essex September 2010
Another large bird
Pay attention to the head shape: pear shaped with dark eye forward in the face compined with a long bill with paler basal two thirds with small Gonydeal spot and minimal angle giving a rather long faced appearance.
Caspian Gull , adult, Essex September 2010
A whoppingly big bird.
The outer primaries have been dropped giving a fairly short rear ended appearance. Aged as a 4th year by virtue of the bill (dark marks prominent towards the tip with pinkish base) and brownish wash to the wing coverts.
An absolutely superb bird.
Caspian Gull , adult, Undisclosed location, Essex 8th January 2011
Initially thought to be an adult on first view this bird was subsequently aged as a fourth-winter due to the small white tips to the primaries and the dark markings to the primary coverts on outstretched wings
Note the pale pasty fleshy-pink and spindly legs; the long slender parallel edge bill with minimal Gonydeal expansion, dark looking eye set forward in small head.
Caspian Gull , adult, Undisclosed location, Essex 22nd January 2011
Adult Caspians don't come much better than this bird, both a looker and extremely confiding.
In the head shot above note:
- Bright red orbital ring
- Rather pale eye for a Caspian Gull though not staringly pale yellow as in Herring Gull; more amber coloured with dark flecks
- The long slender parallel edged bill which is pale lemony-green yellow with a paler greyish-white tip. The Gonys is fairly prominent on this bird but it was large so presumably a male.
- Shape of the nostril slit
- Red gape line turning downwards in unhappy 'clown-like' manner
- Small rounded head with the bill giving a disproportionate long face
Caspian Gull , adult, Undisclosed location, Essex 22nd January 2011
Head looks small compared with overall body size.
The grey upper-parts were a little darker and less blue than on Herring Gull. The tertials are broadly tipped white and there is no obvious tertials step. The primaries extend well beyond the tertials with large white tips and broad white tip to the underside of P10 of the far wing.
This bird had pale fleshy-yellow legs which seemed to change in tone depending on light, in the field in brighter light often looked pale greyish-pink whilst in flat nuteral light there was a distinct yellow cast.
On the image below not the underside of P10; the tips is all white with the white tongue extending well towards the mirror creating a 'waved' black band.
Caspian Gull , adult, Undisclosed location, Essex 22nd January 2011
The images here really don't reflect the overall leg length and colour; the legs which in some lights were pasty and almost greyish whilst in some others seemed yellowish, at the right angle they were also thin as would be expected though not overly long though this doesn't concern me that much as there is individual variation in this respect though most are rather lanky.
In Olson and Larsson the legs tend to be greyish with yellow to fleshy-pink tinge (rarely bright yellow). Ukranian colonies show pale or greyish-yellow (88%) to deep yellow (12%) whilst in Hungary, Aug, 2-3% are dull yellow, 12% Greyish-yellow, 61% greyish-flesh. There is no doubt though there is a distinct yellow tone to the legs. I had a similarly 'yellowish' legged bird last winter, see above, which was darker eyed.
The pale eye is a little unusual however it is not like a Herring Gulls piercing pale yellow, it is more amber coloured with dark flecking; according to Olsen and Larsson the 'Iris dark brown, dull yellow-brown or pale greyish-yellow with dark speckling'; 55% of Ukrainian breeders are 'pale' eyed with larger percentage of pale-eyed birds towards the east of the range. I recall a bird from the Midlands a few years back that was
similarly pale eyed, I'll have to see if I can find images of that bird again.
Also says that orbital ring is orange with 2-3% red though the red normally combined with dark eyes. Although pale eyed it's not as pale as on Yellow-legged or Herring Gulls so perhaps this bird is one of this small
percentage.
The gape is bright red and clearly has an unhappy Clown expression, obvious downward vector, which seems to be typical of cachinnans
The overall structure and appearance of the bird was as Caspian Gull, long slender tapering rear end, elegant proportions, lack of tertial step, small head compared with body size. It was a big bird so presumably a male. The typical pearshaped head was not apparent on this bird but again if a male this would be less obvious.
The spread wing pattern as Caspian, limited black wing tips with pale grey tonges. Large white tip to P10, large white mirror to P9, narrow band across P5.
On the face of it I would suspect this bird is of Ukranian origin though with any slightly different than the norm birds there is always the prospect of it being a hybrid, or are they just variants within the species; just look at the variety within Herring Gulls.
Move the mouse cursor over the image to highlight the key features of the wingtip pattern supporting Caspian Gull.