Caspian Gulls from Riga, Latvia, April 2009

This post shows a selection of Caspian Gulls photographed on a recent trip to Latvia. All shots were taken between 8 and 13 April on the landfill site in Riga. A range of age-groups is shown. In total we saw about 15 cachinnans while on the dump; most were just present for one or two days during our stay, suggesting that passage was taking place.


A long-calling adult male.

Same bird as above; note the albatross posture.

Same bird as above. Note that this individual has only a broken bar on P5.

Adult, the same bird as above.

A near-adult bird (same as below). It had extensive dark markings on the primary coverts.

A near-adult bird (same as above)

A 4 cy bird; the same individual is shown below.

A 4 cy; same as above

A different 4 cy

A long-calling 3 cy

A 3 cy; a different individual to the bird above

A 2 cy

Another photo of the above 2cy.

A 2 cy (large and robust and presumably a male)

The same bird as pictured above

Another 2 cy

The bird above, showing its underwings

The same 2 cy as pictured in the above two images

A 2 cy

Another nice large male bird (2cy).

2cy. The same bird as shown above; an aggressive bird.