The life of an Irish birder : Northern Irish gull fest by Brian Mccloskey

Gulls at Clay Lake, Keady, Co. Armagh.

March 01, 2021

Figure 1: Scoping Gulls on a bitterly cold evening in late January.

Caspian Gull

On Tuesday the 19th of January after a boring day at work I decided to stop off at Clay Lake, on the Monaghan Road, near Keady in south Armagh on the way home. I first found out about this lake from my father who noticed several hundred gulls on the lake one evening last winter, however my check the next day was fruitless. I did not realise it was an evening roost. The weather was horrendous and when I arrived there was at least 700 Herring Gulls on the lake. With the torrential rain and only twenty minutes of useable light I only managed to pick out two juvenile / 2cy Iceland and Glaucous Gulls, but I was very impressed with the location. A check the following day and the tallies increased to three Iceland Gulls. I was happy to see there was an obvious turnover of Gulls. There were quite a few brutes of ‘argentatus’ Herring Gulls to keep me occupied too. I tried to get closer to the Gulls by driving to the south end of the lake to a pull-in off the road. Sadly, when I stopped the car, all the Gulls took to the air. I would be back the next day again!

On the 21st of January 2020, I aimed to be at Clay Lake by 15:45 just in case any Gulls decided to come in to roost a bit early. As planned, I managed to stop off earlier than the previous nights and as I approached the lake, I was surprised to see approximately 70 Herring Gulls in very early at 15:40 and they were quite close to the road. I slowly pulled in off the road and the Gulls did not flush! Happy days! At the back of my mind, I was hoping I might get nice views of a Glaucous or an Iceland Gull. I did not want to get out of the car for fear of spooking the Gulls, so I crept into the back seats of the car, set up my scope, rolled down the window and started scanning.

The very first bird I picked up had a dark eye, I slowly panned past it, until the penny dropped 5 seconds later. In a scramble, I panned back and easily picked up the dark-eyed bird. My mind was racing. It looked like an absolutely perfect adult Caspian Gull to my eye. My attention was brought to this bird by the gleaming white head, the rounded head shape, the sucked-in cheeks giving an almost anorexic look to the head, and of course, the dark eye. At this stage, my hands were shaking like a leaf as I tried to take some record shots. I could hardly keep the scope steady. The bird was probably 120 meters away from me or so per Google Maps. I took a handful of truly horrendous record shots and sent them to my good friend Cian Cardiff saying something along the lines of “is this a f*cking adult Caspian Gull!!!”. Cian was thinking the same as me and was very intrigued by the images and certainly felt that I was watching a Caspian Gull candidate. However, with my terrible record shots, I was probably getting nowhere with the record.

I needed to get out of the car to get better phone scoped images, but I really risked flushing all the Gulls by doing this. I forgot about shots for a second and tried to absorb the key visible features into my retinas! I cranked the scope up to 70x zoom which meant I was able to see the red orbital ring (which is visible in a handful of images). The iris was very dark and looked black even on 70x zoom. Sadly, the bird had its wings completely closed but it was still possible to see the large unbroken fully white tip to p10. However, due to the closed wings, I was not able to gauge the extent of the p10 tongue. The tips to primaries on the closed wing were large and white. The bill was slim, long and drooping with a very slight gonydeal angle. There was a noticeable almost greenish tinge to the very desaturated bill which had a faded red gonydeal spot and some very fine dark crescent-like subterminal markings. The mantle was a shade darker than the associating ‘argenteus’ Herring Gulls. The head was pure white with no streaking at all. The overall impression of the bird was a sleek and elegant Gull with longer wings than the nearby Herring Gulls. The bird also had a very snouty appearance to the head, with a sloping forehead to the rounded head, a long parallel bill and a more buoyant impression when sitting on the water compared to the Herring Gulls. The white tertial crescent was large and there was a lack of a tertial step. Once I noted as much as I could, I slowly crept out of the car and thankfully the Gulls did not flush. The views over the next hour were amazing. Once I was happy that I had a strong Caspian Gull candidate I phoned Killian Mullarney and talked him through what I was seeing. I sent him images and the feedback I got was very positive. My images improved. However, I did not manage a spread wing shot, unfortunately. Not easy in a large Gull roost, in the fading light with a phone! From my views, I could see absolutely no anomalies to suggest that this was anything other than a classic adult ‘western’ Caspian Gull. I got more positive feedback and thoughts on this bird from Niall T. Keogh, Josh Jones, Aidan G. Kelly and Jamie Partridge before putting out the news. This bird would be a first for County Armagh if accepted and is still a mega rare bird in Ireland with only approximately 20 records.

As the light faded the birds swam and gathered in the centre of the lake where I eventually lost it amongst the hordes of Gulls that were now on the lake. A juvenile Iceland, as well as several argentatus Herring Gulls, were also present in the flock. This was my second Caspian Gull following on from a first winter at Lumsdin’s Bay, near Hook Head, Co. Wexford in February 2016. Sadly, I never did see this amazing bird again.

Mantle

Getting an accurate gauge for the mantle tone in the quickly fading light was tricky. At first glance, it appeared a shade darker than the argenteus Herring Gulls but not to the extent of nominate argentatus Herring Gulls of which several were present in the Gull roost. To see exactly what was happening with the mantle I needed two birds at the same angle. Birds facing away at an angle will appear darker than birds that are side-on, and this was factored into this process. I kept watching and photographing the Caspian Gull until I felt that I had an accurate representation of the mantle tone. Having both subspecies of Herring Gull nearby meant that this could be done relatively easily. My earlier suspicions were indeed correct. The Caspian Gull was not as dark as the argentatus however, although not by much, it was a shade darker on the mantle than the argenteus.

The mantle was also a different colour to the Herring Gulls, in particular, the argentatus individuals. The overall colour of the Caspian Gull was a smooth grey, with no hints of blue. This was in comparison to the nearby argentatus which had quite a blue tinge/hue to the upperparts. This was completely absent from the cachinnans. This comes across well in some images taken of both birds with a side on comparison. I understand that phone scoped images can be misleading. The below image appears slightly darkened on the left half of the picture. Despite this slight exaggeration, the argentatus Herring Gulls were darker and I feel that the below image really does do the mantle tone justice.

Figure 2: L. argentatus on left, L. cachinnans on right. Mantle tone and colour comparison. L. argentatus has a clear blue hue to the upperparts compared to the silky grey of the L. cachinnans.

Figure 3: L. cachinnans (left of centre) and L. a. argenteus (bottom right), with various ages of Herring Gulls and a Black-headed Gull also. The Caspian Gull is obviously a shade darker than the argenteus. This is an accurate representation of the mantle tone and was backed up with views in the field.

Bill

The bill of this individual was quite strikingly dull and desaturated in comparison to both subspecies of Herring Gulls. The bill was a drab yellow with a slight greenish tinge which can be seen in some images. The Caspian Gull had a weak red gonys spot, and it also had some fine, dark crescent-like, subterminal markings at the gonys spot. The overall structure of the bill was quite distinctive. This bird had a long, drooping bill with an almost pencil-like tip. This perhaps indicates a male. The bill was also slim, parallel-sided, and had a very slight gonydeal angle.

Figure 4: This image gives an accurate representation of the bill structure, colour, and markings. Long, slim, and drooping with an almost pencil-like tip. The dark subterminal markings are evident just above the pale, red gonys spot.

Eye and orbital ring

I initially picked the Caspian Gull up on eye colour alone at 30x. The iris was obviously dark. However, when I finally managed to get a little bit closer, I increased the zoom to 70x, and I had much more detailed views of the eye and orbital ring. The iris had enough dark spotting to give it the impression that it was fully dark. The orbital ring was not easy to pick up in photos, but I managed to get some. In the field, at certain angles, it was possible to see the red orbital ring. This combination of dark-eyed birds and red orbital rings goes hand in hand. The eye was tiny and placed well forward in the head. It was almost like a bullet hole in the head. The overall impression of the eye was a small, dark, and beady eye.

Figure 5: A heavily cropped image showing the red orbital ring, this was quite difficult to pick up in photos but was visible at certain angles in the field on 70x zoom. The dark iris is also easy to see here. As is the almost anorexic look to the face.

Wing detail

Unfortunately, with inland Gull roosts, in late evening it is only possible to work with what you have got! I failed to get any spread wing detail and never relocated the bird. The bird kept its wings closed which made seeing any detail on the underside of p10 very difficult. I did eventually manage to see and photograph a long, unbroken, white tip to p10 however I could not ascertain what was happening further down the primary. The white tip on p10 had no black spotting. The white tertial crescent was large (visible in the below image).

Figure 6: From this image, it is possible to see the underside to the tip of p10. It was quite difficult to see due to the wings being completely closed, however, it had a large, unbroken, clean, white tip to p10. The large white, tertial crescent and large white tips to the primaries are also visible in this image.

Overall structure

This bird was very long when sat on the water, with an almost attenuated front and rear. The cachinnans had a rather small head, almost too small for its body. I have often heard people describe Caspian Gulls as snouty and this is the exact impression I got off this bird. The fact that this bird had such a sloping forehead and long drooping bill gave the impression of an almost tapered out head/front to the bird. I think this adds to the likelihood that this bird was indeed a male. In many of the images attached, it is easy to see the almost pinched out rear to the bird giving it a much longer length than to the associating Herring Gulls. The wings were quite obviously longer than the Herring Gulls. The cachinnans appeared quite full chested on the water. In comparison to the Herring Gulls, the Caspian Gull appeared to sit higher on the water, giving it a more buoyant appearance. This individual had a very distinctive jizz and was easily picked out on jizz alone among the 400 strong flock of mostly Herring Gulls. The best way I can describe the Caspian Gull was a sleek and elegant Gull with a very distinctive structure and overall impression. At certain angles, the face looked almost anorexic, this can be seen in the image under the heading ‘Eye and orbital ring’.

Figure 7: This image shows the long, tapered, attenuated impression of the bird. It also shows the sloping forehead, flat back, full chested appearance, and bill structure.

Head pattern

The head was completely lacking any streaking, that is including the hindneck. The head was extremely clean and pure white. Suggesting almost adult summer plumage! A large majority of the Herring Gulls of both subspecies had head streaking although there was a few white headed ‘argenteus’ Herring Gulls which also lacked any streaking.

Figure 8: This image shows the hind neck much better than any previous images. It is clearly absent from any streaking.

Conclusion

In my opinion, this Gull showed absolutely no anomalies to suggest that it was anything other than a classic, western, Caspian Gull. Of course, the spread wing would have been nice but as far as a roosting Gull goes, this individual had the full suite of visible features. The details a spread wing shot would reveal is unlikely to be diagnostic due to the overlap with argentatus. Yellow-legged Gull was easily ruled out due to structure, eye colour, mantle tone, bill detail etc. ‘argentatus’ Herring Gull was easily ruled out too because of the same features. The Caspian Gull showed no suggestion of being a hybrid and the bill pattern and structure is perfect to suggest a 100% L. cachinnans.

Figure 9: Sketch showing the main features noted at the time of observation.

Figure 10: Adult Caspian Gull.

Kumlien’s Gull

I arrived at the main entrance of Clay Lake at 16:20 on the 7th of February 2021. I threw on my wellies and coat and walked down to the shore of the lake. It became immediately obvious that there was quite a big Gull roost in the middle of the lake. I began scanning and literally only seconds into my fist scan I picked up an adult Iceland Gull with scarily dark primaries. My views were very distant due to the bird’s location on the lake. I only watched the bird for a little over two minutes where I took a handful of record shots before running back to the car. I sent a voice recording to Joe Proudfoot and Cian Cardiff that I had just found either an adult Kumlien’s or a Thayer’s Gull.

I drove as fast as I could while staying within the speed limit to the other end of the lake. The Gulls were in the exact same place as where the Caspian Gull was a little over two weeks previously. I pulled into the same pull-in off the road and got out of the car with my scope as quickly and quietly as I could. The Gulls did not flush. I started scanning the flock and picked up the bird in question. The second I picked it up at close range it became obvious that it was a gorgeous adult Kumlien’s Gull on the darker end of the scale. A couple of things that I quickly noted that ruled out Thayer’s, the rarer of the Iceland Gull subspecies was the primary pattern, the overall structure as well as the bill colour and shape. All these features appeared to be well within variation for an adult ‘kumlieni’.

I saw the bird flap twice, the first time was brief but the second time it raised its wings for a few seconds, and the spread wing was just as good as I suspected it might be. P9, 8 and 7 all had complete dark grey subterminal bands across the primaries. After four days of watching this bird, I finally managed a spread wing shot of the Kumlien’s, however it was terrible and not worth posting but it backs up my field views. The evening of the 10th of February was the last time I saw this bird.

I watched the bird until it was pitch dark and noted as much as I could on it. The lack of spread wing shots or crap spread wing shots has let me down in the last few weeks. All the shots attached in this blog were taken using an old iPhone 6s which is attached to my Swarovski 95 ATX with a phone skope adapter. This is a great setup for stationary subjects but not so good when trying to get flight pics in rapidly fading light. I have since bought a DSLR purely to help me get useable spread wing images. Hopefully, this will help me out next winter.

Figure 11: Kumlien's Gull with first-winter argentatus Herring Gull and juvenile Iceland Gull.

I had always been tempted to try for the returning adult Kumlien’s Gull in Movile in Co. Donegal as it is a very underappreciated subspecies. Kumlien’s in Ireland and Northern Ireland are not usually as well marked as this bird. The last really well-marked bird that I can remember was one in Dublin Bay which Aidan G. Kelly found however, that bird was even darker than this and really approached the Thayer’s end of the scale. The first Kumlien’s Gull that I ever saw was through Derek Charles’s scope at Ardglass, Co. Down back in January 2012. A juvenile that was most likely a Thayer’s/Kumlien’s integrate. The second was a borderline second winter in Dundalk Bay in January 2018.

Figure 12: Kumlien's Gull preening.

Figure 13: This image shows my original views of the Kumlien's...the primaries look proper black!

Figure 14: Kumlien's with Herring Gulls.

Yellow-legged Gull

This is where it became very frustrating not having a camera. On several dates throughout early February, I picked out several ‘good’ adult michahellis candidates. One individual in particular really ‘felt’ like a Yellow-legged Gull to me. I am fairly sure that there were at least four different individuals involved in the ‘dark mantled Gull’ sightings with at least two seen on several nights. I have never struggled with the identification of adult michahellis before but when you have no chance at spread wing, leg colour or orbital ring detail it can be extremely tricky. Jizz can also be very tricky to gauge when the Gulls are bobbing around on choppy water. My concern with some of these birds is, can a dark mantled adult summer argentatus be confidently ruled out from these pictures? Probably not, unfortunately. I have attached images of the best Yellow-legged Gull candidate which shows a very extensive black wingtip that is suggestive of adult michahellis, however, p5 was not seen or photographed. Comments welcome…

Figure 15: Yellow-legged Gull (putative) in comparison with Lesser Black-backed Gull and argenteus Herring Gulls.

Figure 16: putative adult Yellow-legged Gull.

Best of the rest

Between the 19th of January and the 20th of February, there was always at least one juvenile Iceland Gull in the roost. Three juvenile individuals was the most that seen at any one time but I strongly suspect that there were at least four different juveniles throughout the month of coverage. One juvenile Iceland was a borderline Kumlien’s Gull which showed a very dark tail band, however, the flight images were not sharp enough to be sure of what was going on with the primaries and therefore is probably safer to call a dark Iceland Gull. Between the 19th and 26th of January there was always at least one juvenile Glaucous Gull, however, most nights there were two birds. Excellent views of both species were obtained on some evenings.

Figure 17: Juvenile Glaucous Gull with adult argentatus Herring Gull (this bird showing long tongues on p10)

Figure 18: Juvenile Iceland Gull.

Figure 19: Juvenile Kumlien's Gull/Iceland Gull. very prominent tailband but on these images, it would not be possible to identify this bird beyond doubt.

One of the highlights of my winter, however, was getting familiar with the massive variety in nominate argentatus, the Northern European subspecies of Herring Gull. It is very difficult to be sure exactly how many individuals I had throughout the month, but I had a minimum of thirty argentatus on the 8th of February and given the massive turnover of the gulls each evening it probably is not unreasonable to think that there may have been upwards of fifty individuals throughout the month. Some birds which I will attach are absolute monsters and almost appear like a different species alongside the argenteus Herring Gulls. One thing that the adult argentatus in good light seemed to show was an almost blue tone to the mantle. As already mentioned, it was frustrating not being able to get spread wing shots of every bird but the spread wing of the argentatus that I did see, most birds showed a solid white tip to p10. A very striking first winter argentatus is pictured below.

Figure 20: Adult argentatus Herring Gull.

Figure 21: Adult argentatus (back) with a very long tongue on p10 with Herring Gulls and the adult Caspian Gull.

Figure 22: First- winter argentatus (foreground). The scapular feathering is much more juvenile than an argenteus should show in early February, the chocolate brown tertials and overall almost L. smithsonianus look make this bird an argentatus.

On the 15th of February I picked up what I suspected to be an adult summer argentatus, however, it appeared to show an awful lot of white in the primaries. I was very anxious to either see or photograph the spread wing on this bird. I waited until I could see the bird start to preen and wash before starting to record. Only a few seconds into the recording the bird flapped and I was amazed at the lack of black in the primaries. P10 had a very large clean white tip, p9 almost wholly lacking black except on the leading edge, p8 and p7 both had prominent black subterminal markings across both webs. P6 and p5 completely lacked black. This was either an extreme Norweigan argentatus or an argentatus with Glaucous Gull genes. The mantle was a shade darker than the argenteus which rules out hyperboreus x argenteus? To be honest, this is where I am out of my depth. I suspect it may well be an argentatus but again comments welcome…

Figure 23: Either an extreme argentatus or an argentatus with Glaucous Gull genes.

Figure 24: Same bird as above.

Assuming that the above bird is not a Viking (?) I did have another two adult Viking Gulls which varied from very Glaucous Gull like to Herring Gull like with grey and white primaries. I will attach images of both birds. Hybridisation between Glaucous and Herring Gulls is apparently very common in Iceland which is presumably where these two birds originated from. This was not the only hybrid noted throughout the month as I picked up a Herring x Lesser Black-backed Gull on the 24th of January. Herring Gull numbers ranged from 500+ to 3 and everything in between. An excellent winter of gulling and I look forward to trying it again next winter