Common Gull - Larus canus
Adults
Unusual Common Gulls
Common Gull, adult: Nimmo's Pier, Galway, Ireland - February 2009:
A relatively small and delicate gull with overall rather pale plumage.
For comparison with adult Mew Gull place the mouse over the image.
The bill is slender, lemon-green in colour with a faint band (Mew Gull tends to lack a band and only has smallest of diffuse smudges)
The eye is black and stands out in a white face.
The head is small and rounded with limited fine streaking to the rear and more mottled on the rear neck sides.
The upper-parts are pale grey with sleak appearance, there is a small white scapular crescent while the white tips to the tertials are extensive, at least a third of the visible feather.
The legs are yellow however this is highly variable in this species.
The primaries are black and extend well beyond the tail tip
- There is a large white tip to P6 with a slight extension down the shaft
- A similar pattern can be see on P7 though the white extension along the feather shaft is slightly less obvious.
- P8 has a mid sized white tip
- P9 has a small white tip, extends to a point down the outer-web and not much more than a spot on the inner web. There is also a large oval mirror
- P10 has a small white spot to the tip of the outer web and large white mirror.
The underside of the far wing shows the extent of the large white mirror to P10.
Common Gull, adult: Nimmo's Pier, Galway, Ireland - February 2009:
This bird could be a third-winter due to the dark marks in the primary coverts. Compare the head streaking with the more diffuse hooded effect seen on Mew Gulls
Common Gull, adult-winter: Basildon, Essex - 19th March 2006:
Note the faint bill band on a rather short looking bill.
Common Gull, adult: Two Tree Island, Essex - 30th December 2007:
Note the faint bill band and the extent of the head streaking. The underside of P10 shows a large white mirror with the underside of P9 beneath it also showing the edges of a large mirror. Legs are quite bright yellowish green.
Common Gull, adult: Nimmo's Pier, Galway, Ireland - February 2009:
The bill shows a fairly distinct bill band, a feature not seen on Mew Gull but also not as obvious as on Ring-billed Gull. Note the head streaking extent and density compared with Mew Gull.
The wing tip pattern is a deal maker for Common Gull over Mew Gull: see below for detailed summary of this
Common Gull, adult: Westcliff Seafront, Essex - date unknown:
The head is small and rounded, perhaps even dome shaped. This bird has a fairly bold bill band but doesn't come close to that found on adult Ring-billed Gulls, also the eye is dark.
Note the long primary projection and the large mirrors on P10 and P9.
Mew Gull, Adult (left): Bodega Bay, California, USA - November 2009 and Common Gull, Adult (right) Nimmo's Pier, Galway, Ireland February 2009:
Comparison image, the Common Gull is currently the best wing spread shot image I have of the species.
- P10: Extensive white mirror 'bleeding' along the outer web on the Mew Gull where as remains more of an oval shape on Common Gull. Also the black of the primary does not reach the primary coverts on the inner web where as on the Common Gull it does.
- P9 on the Mew Gull the mirror is large with a slight pointed inflection to the basal tip; squarer ended on the Common Gull. On the Mew Gull not the black falls well short of the primary coverts, very nearly reach the primary coverts on the Common Gull. Furthermore there is a small white moon between the black of the primary tip and the grey of the basal half. This seems typical of adult Mew Gulls.
- P8 on the Mew Gull has an extensive white inner web between the black tip and the grey basal half, the black extends along the outer web creating a black 'spur'. As can be seen on the Common Gull the feather tip is completely black save for the very tip itself. This feature is key for Mew Gull adults from Common Gulls.
- P7 is black but with a large white moon and triangular white feather tip. The tip of the Common Gull is more extensively black, has only a small white moon and a small white primary tip.
- P6 large white feather tip and white moon on the Mew Gull; lack of white moon on the Common Gull
- P5 has a diffuse black band on the Mew Gull, pointed wedge shaped on the outer web and crescent shaped on the inner web, again bold white moon. On the Common Gull there is also a large band but is block shaped on the outer web and crescent shaped on the inner web.
- P4 The Common Gull has a small dusky mark in the outer web which Mew rarely shows.
Thus the Mew Gull has less black more white in the wing tips than Common Gull with what can be described as whitish tongues. P8 is probably the deal clincher with it being mostly black on Common Gull and extensive white tongue/moon on Mew Gull.
Common Gull, adult (same above and below): Private Site, Essex - 14th February 2009:
This bird has an unusually pale eye for an adult Common Gull, I've never seen any others like this. It isn't as pale as could be found on a Mew Gull and certainly not as pale as on a Ring-billed Gull but given the paleness, the bright red orbital ring and the bright yellow-green legs could this be a Common x Ring-billed Gull hybrid. It seems unlikely, the primary pattern is more typical Common Gull, large mirrors on P9 and P10 and the upper-parts are not pale enough for Ring-billed Gull. Probably just a variant on Common Gull.
Common Gull, adult: Paglesham Lagoon, Essex - December, date and year unknown:
The upper-parts on this Common Gull are unusually pale and the primaries are grey and not black, even suggesting Kumlien's Gull. However the typical Common Gull jizz and bill shape, colour and darkish band are seen.
There are large mirrors on P10 and P9, almost encompassing the whole feather tips.
