Sunday 4 November 2012

Grey-headed Gulls, Malawi



I popped down to Seafield this morning to reacquaint myself with the Lothian avifauna. Nice views of Red-throated Divers were the highlight along with a colour-ringed Black-headed Gull (left yellow 2XCL - ringed in Aberdeen I suspect). [Also, just remembered, a candidate Nordic Jackdaw at the entrance to Craigmillar Castle along with a group of typical Jackdaws - I pulled in, avoided eye contact but the flock still flew before I got the shot...] As always at thecoast, I spent a wee while grilling the gulls - even a small number of Herring Gulls can provide plenty of entertainment for the larid-lover.

Gulls are not a major feature in Malawi. The only species that I saw was the Grey-headed Gull and I only had disappointingly brief and distant flight views. It is a species that I have seen before in Africa but never really within photographic range. Here are a few very poor record shots in flight.

The shots are of a first winter (if that means anything in the tropics) photographed on the Shire River at Liwonde National Park alongside a Whiskered Tern. The dusky underwings are fairly distinctive in the Grey-headed Gull along with the white blaze across the primaries and coverts

Finally, here is one of the Red-throated Divers from Seafield this morning.



5 comments:

welchs said...

2XCL is indeed from NE Scotland; 2XCN at Seton the previous 2 weekends was ringed there this summer while mist-netting terns at night - it was their first out of the area recovery; we should expect a few more...

Morg said...

Stephen, that is amazing that the ring codes are so similar! Maybe they flew down in formation! All the best geoff

Stuart said...

Welcome back to reality! Nice RTD - have never been near a shot of one.

What is the other bird in the first pic - looks like a tern?

Stuart said...

Apologies, read your post properly - Whiskered Tern.

Morg said...

Stuart, there were at least 6 RtDs off Seafield sea wall on Sun, and a couple were pretty close in. Tide was low but don't know if that makes a difference? Geoff