Who doesn't love a tatty gull, especially when it's a moulting Heuglin's
(Siberian) gull?! An adult was initially on the sea at Mandria with
yellow-legged gulls this morning, it then flew inland to feed on the local
fields.
Late moult is a key identification feature of Heuglin's gull in December.
Unlike most other gulls it delays
it's moult until it reaches it's wintering grounds, which are mainly in the
Gulf states and India, due to the distance it has to migrate. Cyprus is about the only place where you have a good
chance of seeing one in Europe, assuming that we can count Cyprus as Europe.
Some authorities class Heuglin's as a race of lesser black-back, others
count it as a separate species. I'm in the latter camp, it's on my list as a
full blown species.
No comments:
Post a Comment