ML417220831

Age

Not specified

Sex

Not specified

Observation details

(Added in Feb 2022, mostly lifted from the notes in the next days' checklist, which capture the event exactly): ... the appearance of a very probable extremely rare yet incognito Gull that I've been sitting on for research purposes (certainly, every known diagnostic feature was noted with the naked eye and shows up in the very good photos I managed to bag)... I didn't end up finding it again today, which certainly seems to bear out what I suspect it to be; if there were heaps of Gulls looking this way dotted in the colony, one would readily assume it was the furthest end of a variation spectrum... but no. I had two birds that rang alarm bells, but all proved to have some vestige of a third primary window, more in the mainland range than the usual Tasmanian ones. The bird in question had a combination of only two primary mirrors, with very close views and photos bearing this out, and a noticeably shorter, more delicate bill, lending it a pigeon-like profile. Sexual variation can be ruled out as most of the Gulls around it were paired up and territorial. I have little problem with thinking, as I immediately thought when I saw it, this was a very likely contender for a wandering RED-BILLED GULL from New Zealand, and I'm adding it here under "gull sp." so that opinions can be offered up... watch this space!! In regards to what might look like some kind of primary mirror at the base of one primary in ML417220931, notice that this is much too far back in the order of primaries and low down on the feather itself to rule out a Red-Bill; see some photos from NZ such as (ML260182311) , (ML205877841), (ML368719401), (ML338794751), (ML286555781), and (ML354534661) for similar amountsof white in a similar position on Red-Bill primaries.

Technical information

Model

COOLPIX B600

ISO

125

Focal length

116.5 mm

Flash

Flash did not fire

f-stop

f/5.6

Shutter speed

1/500 sec

Dimensions

4608 pixels x 3456 pixels

Original file size

7.59 MB