Another Glaucous Gull

The place I am allowed to view the landfill site is useless in the morning if the sun is out. This morning I arrived just before the sun was above the horizon. Many gulls were already feeding and amongst them a juvenile Glaucous Gull appeared. There wasn't much time, as the sun was starting to make viewing difficult despite still being hidden. It was a smaller individual than last week's and its mantle was noticeably pale. I was able to take a short bit of video to at least record it. John Judge confirmed that out of the two juveniles roosting at Draycote Water one was smaller and paler on the upperparts.

For best viewing of the video change the setting to HD.

Caspian Gulls were in short supply this weekend: only one adult was present in a field near Shawell Village and a first-winter was in the same field, but that one was most likely to be a hybrid. Its greater coverts were a bit too chequered for my liking and its scapulars were a bit heavily marked too.

Last week I made one visit to Shawell and managed to see three Caspian Gulls, two adults and a third-winter.

Third-winter Caspian Gull, 15/01/16

Female Caspian Gull, 15/01/16