Sabine's Gull: These are really smart gulls, they are a little bit smaller than our more common black-headed Gull. Adult summer Sabine's Gulls have a black head, legs and bill, the latter having a yellow tip. The back is dark grey contrasting with the white underparts.
However juveniles appear quite different to adults, with dusky brown head and neck and a neatly scaled grey-brown coloured back, while the tail has a broad black band at the tip. On the wing, the dark grey of the adult is replaced by brown.
Sabs are typically associated with north-westerly gales and autumn storms, so it was strange to have one not only feeding on insects within a recently slurry spread stubble field but was found on a day were there was no strong winds or storms.
The finder was Ian Igglesden a Hale veteran who puts a lot of effort in down there. I can't say Hale is one of my favorite places, maybe it's just because I've never had much luck down here?
The bird spent much of its time roosting on the Mersey estuary, periodically coming back to the same stubble field to forage.
I hope it stick around a while, I wouldn't mind another try at nailing some decent images.
