ML61615371

Age and sex

Immature Unknown sex - X

Observation details

Very worn first-summer individual actively moulting in second-generation inner primaries, photographed in gull flock on rice fields alongside many Lesser Black-backed and several Yellow-legged Gulls. First seen by Helder Cardoso, who drew attention to its smaller size than congeners. When I examined my photos subsequently, I believed the structure and white-headed, 'snouty' appearance favoured Audouin's over e.g. a worn and bleached first-summer Mediterranean Gull, while the brown greater coverts eliminated Common Gull (with Ring-billed ruled out on a number of features). The 'piano-key' tail pattern appeared somewhat unusual and not to my knowledge a typical feature of any likely species, but subsequent discussion of this bird on the Western Palearctic Gulls Facebook group generated a link to images of an Audouin's with a similar tail pattern (see http://www.elisanet.fi/hj.koskinen/2kvLaraud20080627.html). In summary, no single feature of this bird is wrong for Audouin's, while all potential confusion species can be ruled out on one or more characters visible in the accompanying photos.

Technical information

Model

Canon EOS 7D Mark II

Lens

EF100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS II USM

ISO

400

Focal length

400 mm

Flash

Flash did not fire, auto

f-stop

f/5.6

Shutter speed

1/2500 sec

Dimensions

1200 pixels x 800 pixels

Original file size

635.68 KB