SAHG

Photo 1. The adult culprit, Corvo, October 2011

You may remember back in late October I posted about a ‘Herring Gull’ that I saw on Corvo. Expert commentary on this came from Peter Adriaens, co-author of the seminal paper on adults in a European context (pdf of it here) – and he was helpful and honest as ever.

Peter concluded that there was nothing wrong for it being an American Herring Gull, but the lack of a Casp-like long pale tongue on P10 immediately reduced the chances of reliable identification. 69% of Newfoundland birds ('northern' American Herring Gulls, NAHGs) showed this feature in the sample that his article is based on. Pro AHG features included the all black outer edge to P10 (not broken by the white mirror) and the thin black W pattern on P5; as well as some bayoneting.

Photo 2. Note the leading edge of the wing is black, not broken by the P10 mirror and there is no mirror on P9. 90% of SAHGs show no mirror in P9 just like this. Keep reading...

I bloody said it at the time to Arthur when we saw the bird ‘I bet this is an American Herring Gull, it feels like one, looks like one but reckon it’s not one of those classics so we’ll never 100% clinch it’. And so I was right. This was not a pale-tongued NAHG that you could do for sure.

Photo 3. Still looks a real brute alongside this 1cy atlantis Yellow-legged Gull

So, I kind of left it at that, relatively happy that I’d remain unhappy with the predicament of being closer than close but never a cigar. Roll on December 2011 and a Canadian trip. Here I met up with some local gullers, and this is where my eyes really started to open. These guys watch AHGs all the time, know them inside out - better than us Europeans claiming expert status on sporadic trips/internet birding - and just like we make calls on argentatus and argenteus, it’s possible to make judgements on SAHGs (Great Lake birds) and NAHGs in the field. Interesting stuff.

Photo 4. adult SAHG, Toronto, December 2011; a classic individual, if not with a sightly larger than average white mirror in P10 that extends onto the leading edge of wing. Look at underside of P10 where the black extends way down the primary shaft, with no inkling of that casp-like pale tongue.

Photo 5. Compare the upperside of this bird's left wing (P5 to P10) with that of photo 2. Looks pretty bang on to me.

Kevin McLaughlin has really helped me out and I’ll be eternally grateful for this. SAHGs normally either show a wing pattern of a variable mirror on P10 (sometimes breaching the outer web) OR occasionally a mirror on P10 and a smaller mirror on P9, and a nice subterminal band on P5. The SAHGs in Toronto/Niagara also tallied with what Adriaens and Mactavish said about these birds compared to the Newfoundland NAHGs – ‘shorter grey tongues to P8-10, often no white mirror on P9 (in 90% of those examined), usually a complete black band on p5, and some black on p4 in quite a few birds. All birds had an uninterrupted black band between the white mirror and tip of P10.’

Photo 6. The exception rather than the norm - a SAHG with mirrors on P9 and P10, the latter extending across both webs.

Photo 7. An example of a SAHG with a black marking in P4; it seems as though this bird has dropped P6

Adriaens and Mactavish went on to say that SAHGs appeared smaller, with shorter legs, less sturdy bills, and more rounded heads than Newfoundland birds. So, what with these SAHGs not showing a pale square-ended tongue to the underside of P10 like your classic NAHGs, in a European context you’re more or less f*cked to be able to pick these boys out than brutish NAHGs?

Photo 8. Short-legged and variable head streaking. What I did find was that SAHGs leg colour was consistently bubblegum pink unlike the variability we see in European birds. Compare to photos 1 and 3.

I’ll come to that in a few days... or has a SAHG already occurred in Europe? It's certainly a less than classic NAHG. Have a look here and: -

Photo 9. The regular Nimmo's AHG. Any chance this bird would have passed the test if it hadn't been tracked? I'm currently looking for some underwing shots in flight, so if you have any please email me.

Birthday gulling

Sorry if you thought that I'd been to Killybegs, judging by the title. But unfortunately the hordes of white-winged gulls in the north and the west will have to wait a few weeks... but I'll be there for sure, in what seems to be a bumper year for wingers given the recent dearth over the last couple of winters.

But back to today. I had a lie in of sorts, jolly well deserved given it was my birthday. Just as I'd got up and about, John A called to say that Kittiwakes were on the move at Crossness; he'd had 6 west (upriver and in my direction) in half an hour. So I got ready and walked the 100 metres or so to Greenland Pier. Predictably nada in the Kittiwake scores (I've only ever had a couple here) but a 3rd-winter Yellow-legged Gull - complete with its blood red orbital ring - was at home on one of the groynes by the Thames Clipper stop. It felt like a truly urban gull, and the first one of the year here in Rotherhithe (had a couple - different birds - at the back end of 2011).

3rd-winter Yellow-legged Gull

Mooched around, had a nice brunch at a restaurant locally, read a couple of Black-headed Gull rings (the Belgian bird from 28th December was still around, along with some BTO rings), photographed some common stuff to pass the time and that was that. Another weekend gone.

1st-winter Common Gull

Junco in Hants

I had a really enjoyable, chilled out day with Karen and my parents in Hampshire today - got some decent enough views of the 1st-winter male Dark-eyed Junco that has been mooching around a car park and clear fell area near Beaulieu in the New Forest for the last week or so. The bird was associating with a few Reed Buntings, feeding continuously and pretty restless in its behaviour.

A hungry Junco

Remarkably this is only the second Dark-eyed Junco that I've seen in Britain and Ireland; the previous one being in Chester in 1998 that kept me busy feeding it; good memories of going to see it during free lessons and lunchtimes while in sixth form. They've been rather thin on the ground though recently, so this one seemed to be well appreciated. Plenty of Crossbills around this area too, but a late afternoon visit to Walpole Boating Lake, Gosport, failed to produce the hoped for Ring-billed Gull.

Hawkhill Inclosure, New Forest

Russian ring recovery

Had a really quick response to the colour-ringed Black-headed Gull I saw on New Year's day. The bird was ringed as a chick at Sosnovaya Polyana, St. Petersburg, Russia, on 10th June 2010 and its ringer, Dmitrijs Boiko, stated this was the first recovery of this bird since it was ringed. 1,280 miles from Crossness - Excellent stuff!

1,280 miles from St.Petersburg, Russia to Crossness, London

A Russian 3rd calendar year (just!!) Black-headed Gull

This is my first Russian-ringed Black-headed Gull I've had to date, but it's no surprise really considering a lot of the Thames winter gulls seem to push in from Eastern Europe and the Baltic states.

Also, two Lesser Black-backed Gulls (UL0T and GN6T) from New Year's day were much more typical - birds from the NTGG, with 1 from Rainham and 1 from Pitsea.

A bit more Casp loving

I left it pretty late to get out this morning, wanting to make the most of the last day of the holidays to have a decent sleep. But when I'd decided what to do, and on my way to Crossness, John A phoned to say that the adult Casp (the same as the one I'd found yesterday) was showing relatively well in the decent sunlight. Given that there wasn't a single Casp at Crossness in 2011, it was rude not to get amongst this classic beast from the east once again.

A total classic - beady, dark eye, parallel-sided bill with slight dark marking on gonys, tepid-coloured legs

Lovely sloped forehead, slightly dark mantle (on a par with argentatus perhaps, though lacking the bluish tinge) and loads of white in those primaries - a nice extensive white tip to P10

Rather burnt out image! But nice bayonets, with grey of the outer primaries extending into the black wingtips on the inner webs, on the upperwing, extensive white tip to P10 and pale underwing tongue.

Nice shot of the extensive pale tongue to P10, with the outer web wholly pale, and a narrow black band on the inner web. P9 with similarly extensive white tip to P10 with a slight black subterminal mark.

Once the Casp headed off over the river, having watching it for a fair while, I had a quick walk to the outfall - where there was little - and then back to the car.

Teal at Crossness - glad I don't have to grub around in the Thames mud for my dinner

Rotherhithe was pretty slow, with just the usuals in Russia Dock Woodland last knock-ins and this lovely breeding plumaged Herring Gull.

Midlands gull roost watchers be warned... it's that time of the year again. Do not use the 'white-headed' approach to Yellow-legged Gull identification; some Herring Gulls have already completed their head moult, feeling rather frisky too 

Crossness casp & colour-ringed ridibundus

Happy New Year by the way. I headed out just shy of 8 this morning to Crossness, and it was another one of those grim, grey mornings that made the Thames foreshore that bit more depressing that it often is. That is, until John A received a call from Dave Mo the other side of the river to say that there were a couple of Dark-bellied Brents sat on the mud in Barking Bay. Nice they were too, and a result for the day. While watching these birds, I scanned the near line of gulls - where there'd been a couple of 1st-winter Yellow-leggeds when I arrived - and there bang in the centre of my scope was a quality adult Caspian Gull, complete with the oft-quoted beady eye, rounded forehead and pale tongue to the underside of p10. At 9.40am, was this the first cachinnans of the year on British turf?

Caspo El Clasico. Almost as good to watch as Barcelona?

John A and I then had a mooch around Southmere, Thamesmead, where I found this bad boy, sporting a bit of bling. Seems like it's come to get us from Russia with Love... well, Latvia to be accurate. I reckon it's pretty nailed on from this ringing scheme.

presumed Latvian-ringed Black-headed Gull

South paddock was crap, although a Buzzard was half decent, and then we headed back to the river where the two Brents had flown a lot closer.

A check of the protected area and the paddocks produced nothing of real interest. Then the heavens opened, as the weather people had predicted, so I headed home with a sodden coat. Some things never change. Will I ever learn to go birding in suitable attire?

Review of 2011

So after the final a'noon of the year, discovering that the Rotherhithe Egyptian Goose had grown to 4, getting a Greylag Goose ring and recording my 2011 high for Shoveler (24), as well as completing my species accounts for the 2009 LBR - perhaps it's time to look back at what has been a really excellent, bird-filled year. I've seen a lot of good birds, found some nice stuff too and had a damn good time on my travels lapping up as much as I can. Hope everyone reading this has enjoyed the year as much as I have. Best wishes to all for 2012.

January
After spending the New Year in a 'dry' country, I spent the first couple of days of 2011 birding in Kuwait with the Belgians (Vincent L, David M and Fred V), where Ashy Drongo, Indian Roller and some of the usual Kuwait specials were gladly seen.

Ashy Drongo

Locally, the 4 Scaup that I'd found in December lingered throughout on the dock just outside my flat.

February
I eventually managed to catch up with what may or may not get accepted as Britain's first Slaty-backed Gull mid-month, and just a few days later I was packing my bags again and off to those magical islands in the mid-Atlantic with Josh J. We had an excellent time, spending it on Terceira, Sao Miguel, Faial and Pico where a whole host of yankage was seen with a bit found too - Yellow-crowned Night Heron, Great Blue Heron, 2 Pied-billed Grebes, Bufflehead, Lesser Scaup, American Coot, 7 Blue-winged Teal, 3 American Wigeons, 4 Ring-necked Ducks, Semipalmated Plover, Semipalmated Sandpiper, Greater Yellowlegs, two Lesser Yellowlegs, two Bonaparte's Gulls, American Herring Gull and 28 Ring-billed Gulls. I rounded the month off with a visit to Chipping Norton, enjoying the Oriental Turtle Dove.

Yellow-crowned Night Heron

Bufflehead

March
While I headed back to school after the Azores, JJ went over to Ireland with Staines and found a first. This made me pay a visit to the glorious coast of County Kerry where the drake Stejneger's Scoter was seen in all its glory, as well as a couple of wingers nearby (in what was again a poor year for them in Ireland). Locally things were very quiet.

Stejneger's Scoter

Iceland Gull

April
I was off again - with JJ and Staines - and had a quality few days birding in Portugal and Spain early in the month. The Ruppell's Vulture at Vila Velha played ball while birding the Spanish steppes near Trujillo took me back to an area where I'd been to with my parents back in the day. Great and Little Bustards, Spanish Imperial Eagle, Eagle Owl plus many, many more made for a really enjoyable trip.

Little Bustard

Ruppell's Vulture

With a bonus day of holiday for the Royal Wedding, I made the most of this and had a quick trip over to Santiago, Cape Verdes - with Mick F and Rick M - where there was a treble of WP herons for me. They all showed themselves (three Intermediate Egrets, two Black Herons and a single Black-headed Heron) at Barragem de Poilao, while it was really good to get in on a few of the island's endemics again. Red-billed Tropicbirds on the cliffs at Praia were memorable, and the close views of Fea's Petrels at sea, just before night fell and they come inland, were decent too.

Black Heron

Red-billed Tropicbird

Black-headed Heron

May
All was quiet locally, with Sand Martins and Common Terns having returned to breed on the patch. Late in the month, I headed off with Peter A et al to the Azores again, where we were to spend some time on boats off Graciosa. When we eventually got it right, views of Monteiro's and Wilson's Storm-petrels were fantastic, as was the usual bit of wader action in the quarry on Terceira, while the skuas we saw left us scratching our heads albeit with the opinion they may just be immature Bonxies.

Wilson's Storm-petrel

Monteiro's Storm-petrel

Semipalmated Plover

White-winged Black Tern

June
As soon as I got back from my Azores trip, I made a quick trip up to Hartlepool for a proper, old school British mega - a White-throated Robin.

White-throated Robin

Local birding was predictably slow, just with breeders, although I did manage to find a singing Black Redstart. In the middle of the month, I made the long trek up north to Aberdeenshire and had remarkably decent views, albeit in dire weather, of an immature drake American White-winged Scoter, as well as a nice King Eider on the Ythan Estuary.

July
The month started off with a very pleasant day in Provence with JJ, where we had point blank views of the Red-footed Booby.

Red-footed Booby

With it being holidays at the month's end, and news that the mythical WP bird, Brown Fish Owl, had finally been tracked down, I headed off to Turkey with JJ, Chris B and Andy H where we had lovely views of 2 adults and 2 juveniles. A memory that'll last a lifetime for sure, and we made the most of our trip with a visit to Birecik where Striated Scops Owl and Iraq Babbler were highlights, while Nemrut Dagi was excellent for Red-tailed Wheatear and Cinereous Bunting amongst a host of other decent eastern fare.

Brown Fish Owl

Striated Scops Owl

August
I enjoyed a fantastic three weeks in Asia, starting off in Hong Kong where I spent a few days birding before Karen joined me for the rest of the trip. Birding was tough in the heat, but I managed to see Black-faced Spoonbill, record an array of waders and also marvel at the Chinese Pond Herons.

Chinese Pond Heron

Then I headed off to Indonesia, where the first stop was eastern Java to see Mount Bromo as well as a few birds too for sure. The time then spent on Bali was brilliant, both as an all round holiday but also for seeing some excellent birds - particularly one of the last truly wild Bali Starlings, Java Sparrows, Javan Banded Pitta, Javan Plover, Rufous-backed Kingfisher and many, many more.

Bali Starling

Rufous-backed Kingfisher

Javan Plover

Chestnut-headed Bee-eater

I returned back to London - and then, shortly after, went on my annual trip to the Bridges of Ross. The seabirds were quiet but waders were already on the move, and I managed to see an adult Sharp-tailed Sandpiper at Shannon Airport and a nice juvenile Semipalmated Sandpiper on the beach at Doonbeg that was found by Alan C.

Semipalmated Sandpiper

I returned home and found my first Redstart in Rotherhithe on the last day of the month.

Redstart

September
With rapid low pressure systems tracking across the Atlantic, I spent a couple of weekends in Ireland. I managed to see a couple of Buff-breasted Sandpipers in Kerry the first trip, but the following weekend the weather was bang on the money and way out west in windswept Mayo, I managed to find a couple of juvenile Baird's Sandpipers on Achill Island and just hours later, an adult White-rumped Sandpiper at Roonagh Lough. Chuffed to bits with those. The following day, I saw over 35 Sabine's Gulls before breakfast at the Bridges of Ross, as well as a flock of 9 Buff-breasted Sandpipers nearby, a Common Rosefinch too and then a Blue-winged Teal back at Shannon Airport.

Baird's Sandpipers

White-rumped Sandpiper

An after work sojourn to Weir Wood Reservoir, East Sussex, midweek gave me some decent views of my only British/Irish lifer of the autumn - a Long-toed Stint. Disgruntled about not being in Ireland, the following weekend was spent closer to home searching for rares. It paid off, as John A and I were on fire and found Kent's 2nd ever Semipalmated Sandpiper (the first was in 1984) at Cliffe Pools on 25th (then being seen regularly on the other side of the Thames in Essex a week later), and returning to London we found 2 Roseate Terns at Crossness, gross birds in the capital indeed. 

October
A Sandhill Crane at Boyton Marshes was a nice way to start the month, while the following weekend was spent in Ireland again where, along with a longstaying Semipalmated Plover, I managed a couple of juvenile American Golden Plovers in County Kerry but that was all sadly.

Sandhill Crane

And with little going on nationally, local birding mid month was nice but unproductive. And then it was onto the main event, with the final week of October spent on the Azores. I had an incredible time, with probably my birding highlight of the year being when I found a White-tailed Tropicbird on Corvo, having previously dipped it on the neighbouring island of Flores for a couple of days. Arthur G had never heard so many English swear words, as I clapped eyes on it.

White-tailed Tropicbird

And if this wasn't enough, a Summer Tanager was fantastic value too, while I managed to find my first Nearctic landbirds in the WP in the form of an Indigo Bunting and a Common Yellowthroat. The trip was padded up with Buff-bellied Pipit, Chimney Swift and a drake Wood Duck with decent credentials on Flores. There were only four of us on Corvo late in the month, and we needed more eyes, so if you want to join the late October fun here in 2012 just let me know.

Indigo Bunting

Summer Tanager

November
The highlight was undoubtedly a cracking male Eastern Black Redstart found by Barry Hunt on Thanet, Kent.

Eastern Black Redstart

A morning out the next weekend in Somerset was excellent value, with a juvenile Sharp-tailed Sandpiper, 2 Long-billed Dowitchers and a Spotted Sandpiper all within a 360 spin at Chew Valley Lake. Locally though, the Mediterranean Gull arrived back at Burgess Park and a Long-tailed Duck showed really well near Bromley.

December
It wasn't quite as relaxing as I thought it would be, especially as a brief trip to Fuerteventura was in order when an Allen's Gallinule was found early in the month. Lee G and I had a quality time, enjoying good views of the target bird as well as re-acquainting myself with Canary Islands' Chat, Berthelot's Pipits as well as more vagrants such as a Blue-winged Teal, a Bittern and a Spotted Crake.

Allen's Gallinule

Pre-Christmas week was spent as far away from Oxford Street as I could, so I went to Canada with Karen and enjoyed a stunning week of good birds and company. Thanks to Jean and Willie especially for being so helpful, and of course Karen for being so ever tolerant. Highlights in Toronto and Niagara were loads of gulls (Thayer's, Kumlien's, American Herring, Ring-billed and Bonaparte's) so I was more than happy, as well as huge numbers of wildfowl and breathtaking views of a Snowy Owl.

Snowy Owl

Ring-billed Gull

Long-tailed Ducks

I rounded the year off with a day out in Norfolk with John A and Graeme S, enjoying views of the Western Sandpiper, Lesser White-fronted Goose and a slightly interesting Great Grey Shrike.

More of the same in 2012 please!