36/365 Staring at gulls

05 Tuesday Feb 2019

Posted by sconzani in 365DaysWildin2019, birds, nature, winter

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birding, birdwatching, British birds, Common Gull, Cosmeston, Cosmeston Lakes Country Park, gulls, identifying gulls

I’m sure I’m gaining a reputation as ‘The woman who stares at gulls’. I don’t think of myself as a larophile, a gull-worshipper – I’d just like to become better at identifying them. With their annually changing plumages, the juveniles are the most difficult; generally, the adult gulls are easier, if you can get a good look at them. Today, at Cosmeston, while staring at the gulls as usual, I actually found something different, not one of the usual Black-headed gulls or Lesser black-backed gulls or Herring gulls, but this lovely Common gull. Fortunately, it was close to the shoreline so it was easy to pick out its distinctive bill and head shape and colouring. A very pretty little gull!

190205 Common gull

Cardiff’s lovely Little gull

14 Tuesday Aug 2018

Posted by sconzani in autumn, birds, nature

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autumn migration, autumn passage of birds, birding, birdwatching, British birds, British gulls, Cardiff Bay, gulls, Hydrocoloeus minutus, Little gull

I mentioned a few days ago, in my post about the autumn passage of birds now getting underway, that a juvenile Little gull has recently been spending time in Cardiff Bay. As it’s such a lovely creature, I thought I’d go back and try for another look and more photos. My camera gear’s not the best so these shots aren’t the crispest you might see but I think you’ll agree this is one beautiful small gull.

180815 Little gull (1)

The Little gull (Hydrocoloeus minutus) is perfectly named (minutus, as you might have guessed, means small, minute): in the photo below you can clearly see its petite stature in comparison to the Black-headed gulls and Feral pigeon perched near it.

180815 Little gull (2)

According to the RSPB website, between 400-800 Little gulls over-winter in Britain but, locally, here in south Wales, they are uncommon visitors, mostly seen on passage in spring or autumn. My first-ever Little gull sighting was during this year’s spring passage, in Cardiff Bay on 10 April, but that bird spent much of its time flying around in the centre of the bay, visible only through ’scopes and binoculars.

So, it’s been especially nice that our current visitor has been flying, perching and feeding much closer to shore where I, and many other people, have been able to get a better look at it. Soon, I’m sure, it will head south to meet up with others of its kind who will spend their winter around the coastlines of the Mediterranean and western Europe. Fly well, little beauty!

180815 Little gull (5)

As the Herring gull said to the Lesser Black-backed …

16 Thursday Nov 2017

Posted by sconzani in birds, nature

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birding, birdwatching, gull conversation, gulls, Herring gull, Lesser black-backed gull

171116 gull chat (1)

Herb: “Don’t look now but there’s a human over there with one of those black pointy thingies covering one eye, looking in our direction.”
Alby: “Do you think it’s going to hurt us, Herb? What should we do?”
Herb: “Those things don’t usually hurt. Maybe if we just keep perfectly still, it’ll go away.”

171116 gull chat (2)

Alby: “I think it’s still there. Can you take a look, Herb?”

171116 gull chat (3)

Herb: “Yep, still there. It’s making a clicking noise.”
Alby: “What should we do?”
Herb: “Let’s do something really weird. That might scare it off.”

171116 gull chat (4)

Gulls are tricksy

11 Saturday Nov 2017

Posted by sconzani in birds, nature

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birding, birdwatching, British birds, gulls, Larus michahellis, Yellow-legged gull

Gulls were doing my head in earlier this week. A Yellow-legged gull (Larus michahellis) had been reported by local birdwatchers and, as I’d never seen one and the location was on a lovely walking route along the River Taff, I thought I’d go for a look-see. “It was the only large gull on the river so that might help”, said one who had spotted it the previous day. Well, wouldn’t you know it – when I arrived at the site, there were two large gulls there and, to my gull-uneducated eye, they looked very alike.

171111 Yellow-legged gull (2)

The grey back of the Yellow-legged gull is supposed to be somewhere between that of a Herring gull and a Lesser black-backed gull but, when you have neither of those gulls sitting right next to yours to do a comparison and when one of my possibilities was standing in deep shade and the other in full sun, it was almost impossible to see any difference. So, I followed the other advice I’d been given: “Take lots of photos and hope the experts can help you out.” Thanks to those experts, in the South Wales Birding group on Facebook, I can here present to you my first-ever Yellow-legged gull … and I wish you the very best of luck if you’re ever trying to ID one of these for yourself.

171111 Yellow-legged gull (1)

Another day, another new gull!

06 Thursday Apr 2017

Posted by sconzani in birds, nature

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birding, birdwatching, Blakc-headed gull, Cardiff Bay, gulls, Ichthyaetus melanocephalus, Mediterranean gull

I’m rather ignorant about gulls but, when I saw this particular gull in a flock of about 20 others in Cardiff Bay a few days ago, I realised it looked different though I wasn’t able to identify the bird until I got home and had a good look at my photos. Even then I wasn’t entirely certain so posted some photos on the South Wales Birding group page on Facebook to get some expert opinions. And it turns out my deduction was right – this is a Mediterranean gull (Ichthyaetus melanocephalus).

170406 Mediterranean gull (1)

How did I recognise it from the usual Black-headed gulls (BHGs)? Well, in this bird the black feathers cover the whole head, rather than just the front half, and they are very black, not dark brown like the BHGs – the word melanocephalus means black-headed. Also, as one of my Facebook friends pointed out, you should always keep a look out for gulls that have white primaries, the long outermost feathers towards the top of a bird’s wing. Here are some flight photos that show how pale this bird’s wings were (and apologies for the poor images – it’s not easy to capture a flying bird and these are also heavily cropped).

Ever watchful!

11 Wednesday Jan 2017

Posted by sconzani in birds, nature

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Cornish gulls, gulls, Herring gull, marauding gulls, scavenging gulls

Wherever we went in Cornwall there were gulls: perching on rooftops, balancing on railings, sitting atop vans (especially seafood vans!), roosting on harbour walls, feigning nonchalance, affecting disinterest, calling the bluff of the unwary tourist. But we were wise.

st-ives-2

With our first purchase of Cornish pasties we’d been warned: ‘The gulls here are vicious. One will distract you while the others swoop down from behind, so be careful where you sit and, whatever you do, don’t feed them!’ Forewarned is forearmed, as they say, so we were smart. We found benches with our backs to building walls, where no artful marauders could surprise with their cunning manoeuvres, and so we weren’t bothered at all by the scavenging gulls … though I’m sure the scouts on the rooftops were watching our every mouthful!

To the gulls

08 Thursday Dec 2016

Posted by sconzani in birds, nature

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David Gray, gulls, Gulls lyrics, gulls singing

161208 gull singing (1)

This land belongs to the gulls

161208 gull singing (2)

And the gulls to their cry

161208 gull singing (3)

And their cry to the wind

161208 gull singing (4)

And the wind belongs to no-one, The wind belongs to no-one …

From ‘Gulls’ by David Gray (You can see the official music video on YouTube.)

The black-headed gull duo

06 Saturday Feb 2016

Posted by sconzani in birds, nature, nature photography

≈ 8 Comments

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birding, birds, birdwatching, black-headed gulls, British birds, gulls, Roath Park Lake

Roath Park Lake, in Cardiff, last week …

160208 black headed gull song (1)

A Gull: ‘Is she still there?’
Gull Y: ‘Yep.’
A Gull: ‘What’s she doing?’
Gull Y: ‘Just pointing that black thing at us. Why do they do that?’

160208 black headed gull song (2)

A Gull; ‘I dunno. Ignoring them doesn’t seem to work either.’
Gull Y: ‘Shall we give her something to look at then?’
A Gull: ‘Righto. We could do with some practice.’
Gull Y: ‘Yeah. Let’s fly down by that tree and give her a blast of our new number.’

160208 black headed gull song (3)