ML595178371

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Breeding plumaged adult in flight. Remarks: I spent some time on the coast at Chandipur near Balasore, Odisha around 1st -3rd Feb, 2014 with a fellow birder. We encountered a small (~100) but diverse assemblage of the "Herring Gull Complex", in scattered groups. It had --Pallas's Gulls in all plumages (immature, non-breeding and breeding adults) -- Heuglin‘s Gull nominate Larus heuglini (it was pointed out to me that this was subsumed in Lesser Black-backed Gull by some studies, and so Larus fuscus heuglini if you so prefer) -- Caspian Gull (presumably L. c. cachinnans) -- Potential candidates for "Steppe" Gull (L. c. barabensis). Unsure of this. -- Potential candidates for "Mongolian" Gull L. c. mongolicus - which I believe this to be.  This is certainly a cachinnans owing to the much lighter upperpart colouration than what is expected of heuglini or barabensis. The very large head and robust bill gives the impression of L. c. mongolicus. Suggestions and comments welcome.  We saw only four of the smaller gulls (Black-headed or Brown-headed), but this is quite a good diversity of larger Gulls considering that all apart from Pallas's are relatively rare in this part of the coastline. - AS . Date added to OBI: February 14, 2014.