Glaucous Gull: After missing yesterday's monster of a mega Audouin's Gull, I was eager to give it a stab and set off for first light.
I headed straight to the gull watching site overlooking Richmond Bank and was surprised to find I was on my own, I thought there would have been more birders out looking for this monster.
When I arrived the gull count was about 2000 and growing, which again was surprising as usually Sundays are rubbish at Richmond due to the landfill not operating on the weekends.
I spotted two different Glaucs and an odd looking 1st winter Iceland. The first Glauc I spotted was a very pale bird and less evenly marked.
This first bird was a classic image of a large front heavy Glauc with its short primaries that seem to stop too early and large broad white wings.
Among the hundreds of argentatus and fuscus there was a darker more milky coffee coloured Glauc with pale barring along its wing coverts.
This heavy set bird stood out like a sore thumb among its neighbours and was distinctly different to the first Galuc which was a lot more white.
The odd looking Iceland Gull took me some time to pick out but again it was very distinct once you got your eye on it.
Other opinions believe its some sort of Herring hybrid one of Richmonds mutant birds!
This image shows the birds steep forehead and relatively large eye and the classic projection of its long primary wing feathers that were pale giving the bird an attenuated rear end.
Despite no sign of the monster Audouin's Gull it was a nice, if a little rainy, grey and damp morning
Note: The last three images were taken on my lousy iPhone through my scope and are not the best.
