pcs
Gold Member
Sad consequence of sport fishing:
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Wild Birds of Europe
- Thread starter Levina de Ruijter
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OP
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Jan1977
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A blue heron on take-off:
Jan1977
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And a tufted duck in the morning sunlight:
realairlight
POTN Refugee
Juvenile Iceland Gull (#X9N6) by Real, on Flickr
Juvenile Iceland Gull (#D8DK) by Real, on Flickr
Juvenile Iceland Gull (#YWAQ) by Real, on Flickr
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pcs
Gold Member
That looks cold! Nice photos but Obsidentify claims this is a Iceland Gull. Reason I noticed is that I encountered the Great Skua(according to Obsidentify but also the very experienced birders who supervised the trip) on my trip and it looks like this:
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Cap'n Fishy
Platinum Member
pcs
Gold Member
Correct, Iceland Gull is what I meant, I'll correct it.I think you mean Iceland gull, rather than Island gull, Patrick?
But I think you are correct. I found this...
Iceland gull...
View attachment 107323
I have never seen one, but I do see many great skuas when I visit the Orkney islands. The gull does have a relatively slender bill, compared to a great skua, which has a hooked tip....
pcs
Gold Member
A few more of the Great Skua, farther away and in different light:
realairlight
POTN Refugee
I think you are correct, Patrick. I found this...
Iceland gull...
View attachment 107323
I have never seen one, but I do see many great skuas when I visit the Orkney islands. The gull does have a relatively slender bill, compared to a great skua, which has a hooked tip....
Thank you, my friends, for helping with the correct identification! These photos were actually taken in Iceland.
realairlight
POTN Refugee
Black-headed gull (#DMMX) by Real, on Flickr
Black-headed gull (#MYVA) by Real, on Flickr
Black-headed gull (#LX5E) by Real, on Flickr
Black-headed gull (#JD04) by Real, on FlickrBlack-headed gulls photographed in Iceland – I had no idea they could fly as far as Singapore!
It’s funny, we both flew halfway across the world to see each other... what a waste! And just to clarify, the guy in the water isn’t part of the show – the harbor seals are the real stars here.
pcs
Gold Member
Well, that makes Iceland Gull very probable
pcs
Gold Member
I've seen them on land here and Saturday on the North Sea:
Black-headed gulls photographed in Iceland – I had no idea they could fly as far as Singapore!
It’s funny, we both flew halfway across the world to see each other... what a waste! And just to clarify, the guy in the water isn’t part of the show – the harbor seals are the real stars here.
OP
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ID’ing a skua is doable, but how do you tell an Iceland gull apart from say a lesser black-backed gull, especially a juvenile (who all look alike to me)?I think you are correct, Patrick. I found this...
Iceland gull...
View attachment 107323
I have never seen one, but I do see many great skuas when I visit the Orkney islands. The gull does have a relatively slender bill, compared to a great skua, which has a hooked tip....
Cap'n Fishy
Platinum Member
A couple of mine...
One of the diagnostics of the skuas for me is their centre tail feathers are longer than the outside feathers (don't think you see that in gulls)...
We call the great skuas bonxies. They are common in the north of Scotland, but were hit hard by bird flu last year. That allowed many of the other birds to have much better breeding seasons, as the adult bonxies actively predate on the chicks of many different species...
The Arctic skua is a very different bird. Does a lot of air piracy. I never manage to get a good shot of one - always away in the distance in dingy light...
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pcs
Gold Member
That's what Obsidentify is for. Although I got several(esp. juvenile) shots without ID.
pcs
Gold Member
That we also saw but far away:The Arctic skua is a very different bird. Does a lot of air piracy I never manage to get a good shot of one - always away in the distance in dingy light...
pcs
Gold Member
Also this one for more confusion
Sooty Shearwater
Sooty Shearwater
Cap'n Fishy
Platinum Member
Yeh - they are good at being far away, compared to all the others.
I think it is interesting that they are quite similar in shape to frigate birds, which are famously also aerial pirates. According to Wikipedia, the American name for them is the parasitic jaeger. It says the correct term for their piracy is kleptoparasitism.
Cap'n Fishy
Platinum Member
I think I am OK with them. As they are a member of the tubenoses, they have that distinctive shape that fulmars have - and we have millions of them...
