Sunday 19 December 2010

Yet more adult Common Gull variation

With another blanket of snow appearing overnight, the Common Gulls were tempted back into the garden. While in general the gulls have not hung around for extended photo shoots, today they seemed a little more habituated, or desperate. This first photo shows some structural variation in these gulls - the left hand bird has a longer bill with a more pronounced snout than the much shorter-billed and rounder headed bird on the right. The left hand bird also had noticeably longer tibia than the other.





Another adult Common Gull in the garden today had extensive grey feathering on the upper back, nape and sides of the breast - a wannabe Soft-plumaged Petrel perhaps...
After looking back through previous days' photos, here is a similar bird from the 6th December.

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