SLATY-BACKED GULL in Alaska today

I have been reading your recent comments on Frontiers of ID, and thought you might be interested in photos of a similar-looking bird that I found today in Juneau, Alaska. I hope the photos may be useful to you, at the very least in showing the extent to which the mantle can vary in degree of gray/blackness. There is an array of different aged Glaucous-winged Gulls for comparison.

These superb photographs were taken by NICK HAJDUKOVICH, a very good friend of mine.

Best wishes,
Gus van Vliet
Juneau, Alaska

And more on that eye colour

I'd also urge some caution re identification of the London bird as a pure Slaty-backed Gull, although I agree SBGU genes appear to be involved. We had a similar bird in California a few years back which we concluded, after much investigation, was too pale on the back to be acceptable as a pure Slaty-backed. During the investigation I looked at the Ujihara sites and concluded that there may have been a bit of circular reasoning there; i.e., it was unclear how they were separating hybrids from pure birds at that time (a couple of years ago). They had some individuals that were clearly mis-aged and 1-2 that I thought were mis-identified, which essened my confidence about the hybrid question. Perhaps it has improved since then.

couple of additional comments:

The eye seems too dark for a pure Slaty-backed, even if a subadult. Perhaps this has been discussed. I see no proof that the bird is in its 4th cycle although it certainly could be. Head streaking in basic plumage gradually lessens with age, on average, but the amount here is within range for "definitive" birds I believe, and some very old birds can show heavier streaking if their molt or hormonal cycles are off. Timing of molt also cannot be used to age gulls, especially vagrants. The best indication that this might be a younger bird is the eye color, but this seems too dark, even for a first or second cycle Slaty-backed (Peter Pyle)

Eye colour of Rainham SBG

I agree that the eye color is an issue (in fact the only thing I see that is wrong). Although I have seen a small percentage of (apparently pure) SBGU with this kind of dark mottled eyes in Japan, I think it would just be 1-2% at most that would show something this dark. In my experience, SBGU already start to show a pale eye by Oct of their second year and it's the norm in 2W birds. The dark eye might be a sign of vegae genes, since these two apparently hybridize extensively. I only saw one bird that had a paler mantle and was a presumed hybrid.

On trips to Honshu, I have had a bit more trouble with large gulls because of the greater mix of species and likely hybrids. I may have seen one much darker-backed bird on a 1992 trip, but it's certainly an exception to see 'blackish-backed' SBGUs in my experience. I don't really see that there is a lot wrong with the mantle color myself.

My experience in Hokkaido in 1997 was that SBGUs were remarkably uniform on the mantle and that a graellsii-like gray is a reasonable match.

Nick Lethabynlethaby@ti.com

Comparable sub-adult 'SLATY-BACKED GULL' from California

Here's a 3rd-cycle (by brown greater coverts and bill) SBGU accepted in California that appears darker backed and certainly paler eyed than the London bird

http://fog.ccsf.cc.ca.us/~jmorlan/sbgu012105.htm

It strikes me that the head streaking of the London bird may also be a sign of hybridism for a 4th+ cycle bird, that of vegae being darker, age for age, than SBGU. I also agree with you (contra Lethaby) that the back color seems to vary a lot in these gulls, whatever they are, at least according to what the Japan sites identify as Slaty-backed. In the end I still think the biggest issue is that nobody seems to know how to define a pure Slaty-backed Gull (Peter Pyle)

The Rainham SLATY-BACKED GULL - further expert comment

Lee:

Some years ago I spent a fair bit of time researching a paper on SBGUs, along with Jon King, that we never got to finish and never will. Hybridization with GWGUs on the Kommander Islands is well-documented (can’t provide the reference unfortunately) and other birders (I think Angus Wilson) have seen odd mixed pairs along the coast of Kamchatka. I think that there are some specimens of hybrids in Russian collections too. Having said all this, I don’t think this hybrid combo is all that common because the two forms don’t meet on the mainland and I saw only one presumed hybrid in Hokkaido where there are thousands of wintering SBGUs and dozens/100s of GWGU. I suspect that there are hundreds of SGBU/GWGU hybrids but not thousands.

There is a paper by a Russian (again don’t have reference anymore) that reported that Vega and SBGU commonly hybridized where there ranges met around the N. end of Kamchatka. It’s likely that many of these hybrids would winter in Honshu where vega is common (it’s rare in winter in Hokkaido). At least on my first trip, I remember experiencing quite a bit of confusion as to where vega stoped and SBGU started when it came to mantle coloration. I don’t remember being so confused on my next winter visit to Honshu when I understood the large gulls a bit better. However, Vega and SBGU are similar enough in many respects (string of pearls, brighter pink legs, etc.) that hybrids might not be too obvious at times.

As to other hybridization of large gulls in the Pacific, GWGU interbreeds extensively with several species and American Herring and Glaucous also interbreed commonly.

Nick Lethaby
nlethaby@ti.com

SLATY-BACKED GULLS - Dick Newell Photography

A bunch of SLATY-BACKED GULLS

A mixed flock of SLATY-BACKED GULLS and GLAUCOUS GULLS photographed at Hokkaido, Japan (Pete Morris)

SLATY-BACKED GULL

A relatively typical adult SLATY-BACKED GULL photographed at Hokkaido (Japan) by Jim Lawrence. Note the flaring white tertials and the dark grey upperparts; weakly striated crown and neck and not such an obvious pale iride. There is a distinctive 'gap' between where the dark grey ends and where the line of the nape runs up - the feathering here is white.

As Chris Heard said to me - it's all in the name ''Slaty-backed'' - so why those of us who did see the Rainham bird are worrying about its slate-coloured upperparts is somewhat unwarranted.

BLACK-THROATED THRUSH in Surrey

A first-winter male BLACK-THROATED THRUSH was present in gardens and in adjacent playing fields of the two schools at Sheerwater Housing Estate in Woking on 9 January. The bird was seen well feeding with a bumper influx of Redwing and Fieldfare to the area but despite exhaustive searching since, has not been relocated (contributed in confidence)

The Connecticut, USA, SLATY-BACKED GULL

Lee, I saw the images of Britain's first probable SLATY-BACKED GULL on Surfbirds - congratulations on that.

Speaking from a bit of experience here, you may receive questions about the bird's mantle color (dark gray rather than blackish...which may cause folks to scream 'hybrid.'). This bird appears to have a similar mantle color/shade to a sub-adult bird I found here in Connecticut, USA. The idea of a hybrid was looked into, and we looked for any other features (eg, size, structure, and plumage) that might indicate a hybrid with Vega or Glaucous-winged Gull. We could not find any...the bird seemed spot on for SBGU. On top of that, we sent the images to the Ujihara's in Japan for analysis, and they felt the entire bird was just perfect for SBGU, with the mantle color falling within range for pure SBGU (as far as they know it to be).

Some of the problem with the CT bird were that a few of the first photos (some of mine) were a bit over-exposed/'bleached out'...but later photos by folks like Mark Szantyr and Julian Hough were higher-quality images (but the mantle was still not blackish to be sure).

Here is that CT bird, including those original photos: http://www.shorebirder.com/2008/11/slaty-backed-gull-nov-28th.html

Here is a very nice write-up by James P. Smith regarding SBGU mantle shades:
http://pioneerbirding.blogspot.com/2008/12/murky-shades-of-slaty.html

The Ujihara's website in Japan is a fine resource for images of NW Pacific gulls, with a huge selection of Slatys:

http://www23.tok2.com/home/jgull/gullidentifi_.htm

Nick Bonomo, Wallingford, CT - www.shorebirder.com

SLATY-BACKED GULL finder adds more detailed images to his blog

As I stated in an earlier email today, Dominic Mitchell was given permission to enter the Rainham Landfill Site and was able to get further images, showing critical detail of the wing formulae and patterning and other finite detail - the information and images can be viewed here - http://www.birdingetc.com/

Photographic evidence supports identification as SLATY BACKED GULL

I have now had the opportunity to study some nice flight images of the Rainham dark-backed gull and from what I can see the patterning is spot on for a near-adult SLATY-BACKED GULL. It also appears that this species can have leg length in the region of cachinnans (particularly males) and that the dark grey shading is very variable, ranging from the grey of this bird to almost fuscus black

Just to remind you all, park only at the RSPB car park at Rainham Marsh reserve (Lee G R Evans)

Putative hybrid gull resembling Slaty-backed Gull in Cheshire

Hi Lee, as a Larid fan , I'm obviously fascinated by the appearance of the apparent Slaty-backed Gull at Rainham Landfill and hope to see it over the weekend. I have only limited experience of this species from the US West coast but it does look good from the pix if a trifle pale from my recollections. It does however reminds me somewhat of an odd gull which we had in Cheshire a couple of years ago.

This was a large bird, as big or bigger than the big Argentatus stood on the same rooftop. It had a broad secondary trailing edge, much more so than any other Gull stood nearby. This extended in to a broad, flared out, white tertial crescent, again much larger and broader than any nearby Gull. Its mantle colour was really individual in tone: much darker than Argentatus, "bluer" than LBB but not as dark as GBB, all of which were on the same rooftop. Its legs were a bright raspberry-pink colour and it had a greenish-yellow basal area to it bill with a brighter tip. The golden brown head , nape and upper breast streaking was different in tone and patterning than any of the nearby Gulls. Although we didn`t see this bird fly we did see it wing stretch when it appeared to have some white spots along the subterminal rear edge of the primaries, sadly this feature wasn`t photographed nor seen for long.

We concluded that it was a hybrid of some kind, possibly involving Argentatus but we did remark at the time the birds resemblance to a Slaty-backed Gull

Regards, PETE KINSELLA

SLATY-BACKED GULL at Rainham

Simon Buckell was with me at Rainham Landfill this afternoon and obtained this image above and the following footage at his website here http://shorebirder-waderworld.blogspot.com/

Adrian Webb managed to get some all-important flight images and I hope to receive these later

SLATY-BACKED GULL is still my favoured option of identification at present

Confusing large white-headed, dark-backed gull at Rainham Landfill, London/Essex

See http://www.birdingetc.com/

Dominic Mitchell photographed this very odd, dark-backed gull at Rainham Marsh (Essex/London) yesterday afternoon and this very same bird was seen on a number of occasions today, as it commuted between Wennington Marsh Fields (on the RSPB reserve) and the Landfill.

I saw it very well this afternoon, initially in the field and then later as it wandered about the rubbish of the landfill from 1435-1515 hours. It certainly is a very intriguing gull and is either a 4th-year or older SLATY-BACKED GULL, a VEGA x SLATY-BACKED GULL intergrade or an exceptionally dark SCANDINAVIAN HERRING GULL.

Two features worry me about its appearance. It has unusually long legs, almost Caspian Gull-like, which are raspberry-red in colour (in dull light) and it has dark grey upperparts (not black). Other than these two anomalies, everything else suggests schistisagus. It could be that these features fall within the normal variation of Slaty-backed Gull but I don't know.

There is very limited parking near the landfill (perhaps for 20 cars maximum) so it will be preferable to park at the official Rainham Marsh RSPB reserve car park and then walk back west for 2 kilometres to view through the wire fence at the landfill. At the 1.3 km mark, the roosting gulls in the fields can be studied (this afternoon this field harbouring 5 different CASPIAN GULLS).

The landfill will be active until midday tomorrow but will then close until Monday morning. History has dictated that feeding gulls distribute far and wide on Sundays, so to be sure of a sighting, a visit tomorrow is essential. There are upwards of 5,000 feeding gulls at the tip.

ASIATIC LESSER WHITETHROAT-type in IRELAND

On Thursday, I made a trip up to Drogheda Co. Louth, in the company of Alyn Walsh and at the invitation of Chris Honan, to view a Lesser Whitethroat that showed up in Chris' and his neighbours' gardens just after Christmas.

First noticed by Chris' neighbour, Kevin McGuigan, who recognised it as being "like a Blackcap but without a cap" he notified Chris of an unfamiliar bird visiting his bird feeders. Chris subsequently obtained a couple of record shots, which confirmed that it was a Lesser Whitethroat, but its somewhat unusual appearance was immediately interesting. Suspecting that it might be one of the Asian forms of Lesser Whitethroat, Alyn and I accepted Chris' kind invitation to investigate this possibility further by in-the-field observation, sound-recording and if possible, trapping, in order to obtain detailed biometrics and feather samples for DNA analysis.

Within a minute of arriving at Chris's house we were watching the bird at close range, and it was present on and off throughout the afternoon, making frequent visits to the feeders in Chris's and Kevin's front gardens.

Field identification of out-of-range Lesser Whitethroats to a particular taxon is nigh on impossible, though there are several characters that may be used to separate Asian forms, in a broad sense, from the familiar nominate form that breeds throughout Western Europe.

Biometrics offer further clues but DNA may, ultimately, be required to assign birds to a definite taxon with a high degree of confidence. To our great delight, Chris and Alyn were successful in catching the bird in a well-placed mist net! A thorough but efficient examination was carried out, a couple of tiny feather samples were collected, the bird was ringed, photographed and released, upon which it immediately resumed feeding, just as it had been earlier in the day. The wing formula, very extensive clean white in the outer tail feathers and the distinctive call (heard a couple of times but unfortunately notrecorded) point strongly to the bird being referable to one of the Asian forms of Lesser Whitethroat, most probably halimodendri or minula.

It is hoped that DNA analysis will enable us to confirm the identification, one way or the other, but this might take some time.

Anyone interested in seeing this bird for themselves is welcome to do so, though of course they will be expected to conduct themselves with due regard for the fact that their observations will, inevitably, be directed into one or other of the front gardens of Chris' neighbours. All the people living here seem to be exceptionally friendly and tolerant, so let's make sure that none of us does anything to change this attitude!

Chris kindly provided the following directions, from Drogheda:On the Termonfeckin Road (just outside Drogheda town centre), go under arailway bridge. As you go up an incline there's a garage on your right and immediately after that, the entrance to Westcourt is on your right. After entering Westcourt, the entrance to The Priory is the first turn to the left. The first turn on the right in the Priory brings you to the cul-de-sac where the bird has been seen at feeders on trees in gardens on the right (No. 9) and left (No. 16). As you enter the cul-de-sac, there is space for at least three or four cars to be parked on the left, alongside a white wall, where they will not be in anyone's way. It is easy from here to spot the bird feeders on both sides of the road.

I have sent some photographs of the bird to the irishbirding.com website which hopefully will be uploaded in the morning. I'd like to take this opportunity to thank Chris and Sue Honan for the greatwelcome and hospitality extended to Alyn, myself, and a couple of other local birders who dropped by. Likewise to Kevin, whose sharp observation ledto the discovery of this very interesting bird and whose well-filled (with Christmas cake!) feeder seems to be sustaining it. With a bit of luck it will stay around for another while (Killian Mullarney)

The Trips Itinerary and Planned Schedule for 2011

Ruff and Ready* Tours have a full itinerary of birding tours in 2011 designed and catering for the keen and active birder. There are currently vacancies on scheduled trips to Spain in February (for Spanish Lynx, Spanish Imperial Eagles, Bustards, Wallcreepers and the like) and May (White-rumped Swifts and breeding birds), the Western Sahara and Morocco in late February/early March (1-2 spaces), Israel (both North & South) in March, Scandinavia in April (for Owls and seaduck in breeding plumage), Georgia in early May, The Highlands & Islands of Scotland in May, Poland in May (woodpeckers, Hazlehens, warblers and more), Sicily in June, Egypt in June, Madeira and the Canary Islands in July, The Azores in November, Goa in November, The Gambia in December and Thailand in December.

Also, NEW FOR 2011 is the Round-Britain January week-long tour concentrating on all of the 190 resident and wintering birds to be found at that time of year.

More destinations will be added as and when interest demands

If any of these trips take your fancy, do not hesitate to email me (Lee G R Evans) on LGREUK400@aol.com or phone for more details on the Hotline at 07881 906629

*Ruff and Ready is a trademark of LGRE Tours and Wallcreeper Enterprises

Jonathan Eames gets New Year Honour Award

Jonathan Eames has been awarded an OBE in the British New Year Honours List. Jonathan was a great friend of mine when I first became obsessed with twitching in the mid 1970's but as we both grew up, Jonathan got more and more involved with Oriental Birding and took a different ornithological route. I am delighted that all of his hard work and energies have been reflected in this award - he is one great guy.

Jonathan Eames, programme manager for BirdLife International in Indochina, has been awarded an OBE by Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II in the British New Year's Honours List. The award has been given for services to biodiversity, conservation and civil society development in Vietnam.

"This is a great recognition of the work of Jonathan and the entire Indochina Programme, acknowledging the impact that BirdLife is having in the region", said Dr Marco Lambertini, BirdLife's Chief Executive.

ames first went to Vietnam in 1988 and then 1990 on expeditions when access to the country was very limited for foreigners. In 1993, he set up BirdLife's Vietnam Programme which has not only grown within Vietnam but has expanded to a region wide programme including work in Cambodia, Laos, and Myanmar.

"In the early days a major conservation success was being able to play a leading role in the formulation of the biodiversity action plan. At that time we worked with the Ministry of Forestry with the focus on increasing the size of the protected areas system and eventually succeeded in getting first one then finally about 12 new protected areas gazetted. Despite resourcing and enforcement issues several of these sites have developed, thanks to the Vietnam government's commitment and with continued BirdLife support, into established protected areas. For example the size of Yok Don NP was doubled in part because of BirdLife lobbying", said Jonathan Eames.

Eames and the staff of the Indochina programme's work and knowledge of the avifauna of the region has also led to the discovery of four new bird species (Black-crowned Barwing Actinodura sodangorum, Golden-winged Laughingthrush Garrulax ngoclinhensis, Chestnut-eared Laughingthrush Garrulax konkakinhensis and Limestone Leaf Warbler Phylloscopus calciatilis
BirdLife in Indochina is also the Regional Implementor for the Critical Ecosystem Partnership Fund http://www.cepf.net/">http://www.cepf.net in Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos and Thailand which has provided civil society in the region with US $ 8.5 million over the last two years.

"The conservation challenges in the region are still huge. Protected areas and wildlife management laws need better enforcement in order to avoid encroachment and eradicate poaching of wildlife and trees", said Eames.

OBEs are given for distinguished regional or county-wide roles in any field, through achievement or service to the community.The British honours system is one of the oldest in the world. It has evolved over 650 years as the country has found alternative means of recognising merit, gallantry and service.

WHITE-TAILED SEA EAGLE continues in Hampshire

This exceptional image was taken of the Hampshire juvenile WHITE-TAILED SEA EAGLE by Keith Maycock. The bird is a juvenile in uniform brown plumage - 2nd-winter birds should be much more mottled white and dark brown below and the inner 3-4 primaries would be fresh and newly moulted (Dick Forsman)

I watched the eagle this morning, saw it a couple of times (10:10 & 11:35) and it followed the same route each time - picked up over woodland south of A337 at Ashley Clinton (c. SZ263935) then heading north over A337 towards Hooper's Hill. Flight line viewable from either A337 (see the churned up grass verges) or from Hordle Lane.

Between these sightings, the bird was seen by others from Angel Lane - presumably when it looped back south of A337 (Bob Marchant)

Spaces available on MOROCCO and SPAIN tours

I have two places on a Morocco/Western Sahara tour 26 February to 9 March and several places on a Spanish tour in February concentrating on finding SPANISH LYNX, SPANISH IMPERIAL EAGLE, WALLCREEPER, both BUSTARDS and many other specialities

Please email me on LGREUK400@aol.com or phone 07881 906629 if you are interested in joining me on either