Monday 2 January 2012

A new Glaucous and an extreme 'argie'

This 'new' Glaucous was at Fraserburgh on 31 December - the 5th of the winter here.




This bird is interesting and puzzling. If it is 'just' an argentatus, then it is an extremely white-winged one. We see many otherwise typical argies approaching this each winter in NE Scotland, and although this individual is extreme, it is tempting to suggest that it simply represents the extreme pale winged end of the spectrum. It has dark grey upperparts matching argy and its head and facial expression say Herring Gull. But it is oddly short-legged, something which imparts a rather iceland Gull quality to it. What a great bird!








1 comment:

Amar Ayyash said...

Hi Chris. This last bird looks like a Kumlien's.

Thanks,
Amar Ayyash