Ring-billed Portugull, Lisbon 30 July 2013

Having just returned from a two week family holiday in Spain and Portugal I thought that I would post this beauty first - a moulting first summer to second winter Ring-billed Gull on the seafront at the Praça do Comércio in Lisbon. This unexpected transatlantic bonus was pretty much the last bird that I saw on the whole trip and was the successful conclusion to a short gull photographing stroll along the front.

This individual seemed quite large, so presumably is a male as it did not seem that much smaller than a nearby lusitanius Yellow-legged Gull, more of which in a future post...

Ring-billed Gull, North Bull, Dublin

I was glad that I had tried out phone binning two days ago because I needed to have another go today at North Bull , Dublin. I had been hoping to get shots of godwits or geese with bling, having seen some colour rings briefly the other day. This Ring-billed Gull changed that when it dropped in unexpectedly. It took a while to nail the ID as it was distant and flighty initially but it's broad wings with silver grey above, dark trailing edge on primaries and striking ring on drooping bill were particularly striking when in direct comparison with Common Gulls.

Something about Ring-billed Gulls

There is something in the way she moves, 

attracts me like no other guller

as Harrison might have written in his classic song. Had he been writing about Ring-billed Gulls rather than lovers. And had he been Peter Harrison of Seabirds fame rather than George Harrison of Beatles fame, perhaps.

Anyway, Ring-billed Gulls do have a distinctive gait. They hold their heads high and stride forward on long legs.

Further proof that it may just have been Peter Harrison that penned Something is found in the third verse, which appears to urge all gull watchers to be optimistic yet also realistic...

Stick around, and it may show,

But I don't know, I don't know

Colour Ring-billed Gull

After multiple misread gull rings at Alnwickhill over the last year I was delighted to find that the nearest adult Ring-billed Gull on Marconi Beach in Cape Cod in July was sporting a fine piece of bling. Well I'll be gol darned if its not mighty close enough to read and captured on camera n'all - things are just so much easier stateside it seems.

It turns out that this Ring-billed Gull was ringed at the Ile Dirette, Laval, near Montral in Quebec in June 2010 as an adult and is a male. 

Here are some more adult Ring-billed Gulls loafing on the sands. Great birds in my opinion, but not a feeling shared by everyone - I think that one of the motivations behind the colour ring studies in Canada is to try to understand this species behaviour better in order to reduce the conflict between the Ring-billed Gull and residents of cities such as Montreal...

First-summer (2CY) Ring-billed Gulls, Cape Cod, MA

Continuing with Ring-billed Gulls, these second calendar year birds are of an age that, in theory at least, is a little more likely to be seen here on the East coast of Scotland than yesterday's juveniles. Again two individuals were present on Marconi Beach, foraging at the end of the day for scraps dropped by tourists taking advantage of July's heatwave.

Juvenile Ring-billed Gulls

One of the benefits of travel for a birder is that even the most common birds seem twice as interesting as those back home. If they happen to be gulls then even more-so for me. Consequently I have several times more images than I probably need of these two juvenile Ring-billed Gulls photographed on 13 July at Marconi beach on Cape Cod. These were the only two juvs that I saw; the species does not breed in the area so these two had dispersed from a breeding colony further north or west.

Of the two, you will notice that the one above is more strongly marked all over, with lots of dark smudgy marks on the tail and body. The other bird (below) more closely resembles a young Common Gull and could easily slip by without being noticed this side of the Atlantic. The wing on the Ring-bill is broader, particularly at the secondaries, there are some heavier anchor-like markings on the tips of the greater coverts, the bill shape is a little heavier with a more pronounced gonys, and the mantle seems a bit more coarsely patterned but all-in-all quite a subtle identification.

2nd winter Ring-billed Gull, Galway

Having seen the adult Ring-billed Gull, I was scoping Galway Bay briefly with Dermot Breen. I commented that I was hoping to find one in Lothian. His comment was pretty much, "Oh funnily enough, here's one!" And there it was right in front, a cracking 2nd winter Ring-billed Gull. Sometimes I really wonder how much I miss...

I watched the bird through the scope for a good while, trying to etch its image into my brain. I am really hoping to put this search image to good use. After absorbing these distant views I wandered onto the upper shore and threw some bread to see if it would come any closer... From these photos, you can see that it did. Looks like a male to me, with that heavy bill.

This bird was seen at Waterside later on by Tom Cuffe. He noticed that it had unusually blue legs. How cool!

It's a ringer: adult Ring-billed Gull in Galway

I bumped into Tom Cuffe while I was birding Nimmo's Pier on Saturday morning. We discussed the various white wingers and then I remarked that I was surprised that I hadn't connected with a Ring-billed Gull the previous afternoon. "Oh there is normally one down there", he said, pointing to some exposed rocks towards the mouth of the harbour. I trained my scope on the area and, sure enough, there it was! Cheers, Tom. We sauntered down and I gawped and threw some bread. For Tom, being local, a Ring-billed Gull barely warrants a second glance.

After looking at my photos I realised that I had also seen this bird before - in December 2010 (it is bird 2 in this post). Not only is the ring on the beak of similar width and shape and the head streaking very similar in density and distribution, but the shorter than normal tail feather (left T2) is identical. I had assumed that the uneven tail growth was some one-off feature in December 2010, but it seems to be consistent from year to year despite the fact that it should have moulted its tail at some point in the last 12 months... (cant find anything on this in Gulls of the Americas or Molt in North American Birds, but I haven't checked Gulls or BWP yet). Perhaps this feather is simply the last one to be replaced by this bird?

So here are some comparison shots of Dec 2010 on the left and Jan 2012 on the right:

So, no sign of any improvement in my photography in 12 months!






Here are a few more shots taken last Saturday. A great bird, in my opinion, and one I am keen to find locally. Might take a wee while in Lothian...

The following shots show details of wing-tip pattern and extent of head streaking.