Hybrid Gull - 1

Presumed hybrid Mediterranean Gull x Black-headed Gull hybrid at South Killingholme March 6th 2003 © Graham Catley 2003

Hybrid Gull - 2

The following shots were taken by Mike Tarrant, of a 'hooded gull' at Rimac on 21st June, 2002. Please send any comments and suggestions to Andrew Chick rather than Mike, and I will post them on the site.

Some comments;

I just compared the pictures on the internet of the "Draycote gull" and the "Rimac gull" and it looks like this is the same gull! Maybe this has already been suggested earlier, but what is your opinion?

As for the identification of this gull: apart from the black hood, everything I see in the pictures is right for a normal Common Gull; were there any other aberrant field marks pointing towards hybridism?

Kind regards, Bram Aarts

Although superficially resembling the Draycote bird there are few differences. Bare parts the Draycote bird having a dark red bill and dusky legs. The hood of the Rimac bird is like a Black-headed Gull in shape but the Draycote bird had a hood extending down the neck as in Med Gull If it was the same bird the hood would have moulted in three months and where are the eye-crescents?

The primary pattern on the closed wing does not look the same You ask if there were any other aberrant field marks pointing towards hybridism the size of the bird smaller than Common Gull and head/bill shape and general "jizz" of the bird I know that "jizz" is something of a grey area but having watched the Gull's at Draycote for many years it is one of the best ways to pick out the rarer species as the distance is so great (the grabs on the Draycote web site are taken at about 200x) P10 P9 and P8 are white tipped unlike a "normal" Common Gull does Mike have any photos of the bird in flight or an open wing shot?

All in all it was an interesting Gull and hopefully with Mike's shots in Birding World a few more birds from the past may get reported and we can get a better idea of the parentage. The Med x Common hybrid fits in with the peak movement of Meds in our region On a last point if you have been following the Elegant Tern saga on the surfbirds forum you will appreciate how difficult it is to judge birds from photos alone, bill shapes change from one shot to another and the story eventually goes full circle.

If you have any other queries please contact me Regards John Judge
john@draycotebirding.co.uk - www.draycotebirding.co.uk

Photographs copyright Mike Tarrant

'hooded gull' at Rimac on 21st June, 2002 © Mike Tarrant

'hooded gull' at Rimac on 21st June, 2002 © Mike Tarrant

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