2cy Lesser Black-backed Gulls 2013!

27. May this year a 2cy LBBG sat on the pier on Langvannet. A 2cy LBBG in Oslo is in itself quite good! Little did I know that this would be an extraordinary year 2cy LBBG-wise on Langvannet. Three days later two 2cy LBBG sat side by side on the same pier (I have some crappy photos of both). Then it went silent (except one 11.6), and I went on holiday elsewhere. The first day on Langvannet after that was 15. July. It resulted in one new 2cy LBBG. Then they kept coming...

15.7: Ind 1, only seen this day

22.7: Ind 2, got colorring J435A and was last seen 19.9 

22.7: Ind 3, last seen 31.7

22.7: Ind 4, maybe the most interesting individual, last seen 26.8 

24.7: Ind 5, last seen 12.8

26.7: Ind 6, only seen this day

27.7: Ind 7, last seen 28.7

27.7: Ind 8, this or ind 13 hold out until 19.9

27.7: Ind 9, last seen 19.8

28.7: Ind 10, last seen 19.8

29.7: Ind 11, only seen on this day

31.7: Ind 12, a bird that looked like this was seen 20.8

7.8: Ind 13, very similar to ind 8! One of them was last seen 19.9

2.8: Ind 14, last seen 12.8

9.8: Ind 15, only seen this day

11.8: Ind 16, fuscus! (?) only seen a few minutes

11.8: Ind 17, only seen this day

11.8: Ind 18, last seen 14.8

12.8: Ind 19, ringed individual!
Probably ring in Fredrikstad some weeks earlier,
but ring impossible to read.

Well... 19 different photographed individuals after 15. July... By an inland lake with 100-200 gulls at the time. A full list of records from Langvannet this year can be found here. The best day was 11.8 with 8 different individuals the same day!

Elsewhere in Norway it has also been a lot of 2cy LBBG. I have seen one at Østensjøvannet, 7 side-by-side at Årnestangen, one at Øra, one in Middelalderparken, and finally one late individual at Mosvannet 12.10. I have personally seen about 30 2cy LBBG this year!

Where do these birds come from?
We don't know... Only one colorring that wasn't put on this year was read. It was ringed as 1cy on Oslo in september 2012. We don't know where it came from either... A 1cy LBBG on Langvannet a couple of days ago was ringed as young in Troms, which should indicate that 1cy autumn birds can come from everywhere...

Some 2cy birds doesn't look like classic intermedius either. Ind 16 and ind 4 are good examples of that. So maybe many of them are of eastern origin? Ind 4 may even look like a heuglini? More photos of it is anyway to be found here. Some of the birds also have 2 moult cycles going on in there wings (eg. 4), another weak sign of eastern origin... Maybe we will know something new in 10 or 20 years (or 2)....

31.8: Middelalderparken

03.8: Østensjøvannet

Adult-looking 4cy Lesser Black-backed Gull

Langvannet, 24.05.2013

Same as above

Ringed as young in 2010 in southern Norway.

wintering Lesser Black-backed Gull in Oslo

This winter a LBBG has wintered in Oslo. It was first seen in December, and have been seen a couple of times since that. I saw it again yesterday, and that made me blog this.

All photos above taken by me, 9. feb, on Aker Brygge. Yesterday it looked more or less similar, so no moult going on. The bird is a 2.winter. I have many times questioned it age, but that is mainly because I am used to 2.summer intermedius/graellsii with a lot of new feathers on the back and moult in primaries. From what I find on the internet it is quite normal for a 2.winter L.fuscus. The bird seems to have changed almost all feathers (most obvious: primaries, tail, secondaries, coverts) one time, and changed them with second generation feathers. Subspecie-wise it is a intermedius/graellsii, mainly because of moult cycle.

Lesser Black-backed Gull, Oslo - Finland - Oslo

24. July I managed to successfully read a Norwegian metalring on a LBBG at Langvannet. Got back the recoveries last week, and read through the list. The gull was ringed in 2008 on Alv in Oslo, and only had one recovery before I read it on Langvannet. Only thing, this was in Finland! 27. May last year the intermedius gull was seen on a dump in Finland. Most likely caught in a canon-nett, but it could have been read in field. Anyhow, last year this gull was 3cy, meaning that it had gone one summer (as 2cy) together with the other 2cy LBBG  in south Europe or Africa (or some other place). Than as 3cy it flew north and ended up in Finland. After this it is likely that it flew south to Africa or south Europe (or some other place), before flying north to Oslo and ending up on Langvannet with the Lesser Black-backed here (as a 4cy) (I almost manage to read it in April, but was missing a few digits). In April I wasn't looking that closely on the LBBG, so I don't know if any of them where fuscus than. There will be a next year!

Together with all the dark and bright looking LBBG on Langvannet in end of the metalring-bird-period this is a really interesting recovery. It means that fuscus gulls from Finland can end up in Oslo. Yet we don't have any proves that this have ever happened (at least not as I know of), but it have to be possible.

1cy Lesser Black-backed Gull

A long time since last time I saw a LBBG with this amount of white on its belly. Made me think about cach for quite a long time actually... Of course there are not many thinks fitting with cach today, but it was a different story yesterday ;)

Lesser Black-backed Gull, Bispevika/Middelalderparken 25.08 

Tailpattern fits good with Caspian, but even better with LBBG
This bird actually shows a window in primaries, not very normal
for a LBBG, but some individuals have it.

Lesser Black-backed Gull: graelsii

No photos are edited. All birds are really good graelsii-candidates, and all are different individuals, if nothing else is stated... Any comments?

Kuba, Akerselva, 7.8

Langvannet, 11.8
Same as below

Langvannet, 11.8
Same as above, argentatus in background

Langvannet, 8.8

Langvannet, 1.8
Spot on neck is dirt

Langvannet, 1.8
Same as above. Bird to the right!

Langvannet, 8.8

Langvannet, 8.8

Langvannet, 1.8

Langvannet, 1.8
Really bad comparison-photo. Probable fuscus behind.

Same as above. Together with the same fuscus as above.

Really interesting with all of these graelsii-type gulls at Langvannet in the start of August. Now, late August, there are still a lot of gulls at Langvannet, but mostly 1cy. As a result, almost all the fuscus/graelsii gulls have disappeared. I have seen one fuscus (maybe a few more) and one graelsii bird since mid August.

Are the birds above migrant heading south already? And migrating through Oslo?

Lesser Black-backed Gull: fuscus

Below there will be a lot of examples of birds from Langvannet (and a couple from Oslo) mostly fuscus-like, but also some intermedius.

Langvannet, 08. August
This bird hasn't changed any of it's primaries (that we can see),
so we have nothing to compare the upperwing color with.
Still it may turn out a bit bright compared with a real fuscus.

Langvannet, 08. August
(The bird from above in foreground)
Looks almost exactly the same as above bird on upperwing, but...
...Look at primaries: This one have changed them all (although
they looks quite brown close to the body),
at the same time there are a lot of brown feathers
in upperwing. Do they get as worned as this, or is this
bird a 5cy-ich dark intermedius/bright fuscus?

Langvannet, 12. August
What are the new feathers in this wing? Think I see both
dark fuscus feathers, and light intermedius feathers...
Also the bird has changed 8 primaries (2 to go), something
that fit very well into the two colorringed birds at Langvannet.

Langvannet, 12. August
Dark and long-winged bird. Changed all the primaries I can
see. Tertials don't look as good for fuscus maybe, but it
could be the light. Absolutely a good candidate. The new
feathers in wing looks like they are darker then the rest.

Langvannet, 12. August
intermedius-bird. New feathers in wing clearly brighter then
the rest of it, and clearly brighter than the wingtip.

Langvannet, 12. August
A good-looking bird which was seen briefly. Adult looking.
Really dark upperwing, but again, is it the light?

Langvannet, 30. July
At long range this doesn't look that good, but seen up close
you see 4 old primaries remaining, and dark on bright in wing.
Looks really athletic, both on photo and live. Same bird that
was used to illustrate lights importance in last post.

Langvannet, 12. August
Another fine intermedius. Wingtip may look like
the bird on image number 2 when wing is closed...

Langvannet, 12. August
Looks good at the beginning, but scary light and what
appear to be a large window on P10 makes me wonder.

This bird is quite easy to recognize, so I have many pictures
in different settings. Can still not say anything about ssp
safely.

Large dark-eyed LBBG. Ssp. intermedius

Kuba, Akerselva
Dark-looking and long-winged. When I lighten it I think
I see new brighter feathers, together large white spot on P10.
Makes this bird unidentified.

Kuba, Akerselva
The new feathers looks dark on this bird. Still looks a little
short-winged and heavily built. 

Ankerbrua, Akerselva
Looks really good for fuscus. Dark upperwing and small
white window on P10. Small head.

Langvannet
Just to show upperwing on a 3cy intermedius.

Langvannet
Short legs, small rounded head, and appears long-winged.
Still upperwing color makes it an intermedius. Interesting
bird anyway.

So many good-looking bird at Langvannet (and some in Oslo), and statistics says that it has to be more than the two colorringed birds at Langvannet of ssp fuscus. Still this is a so difficult subspecie to identify! Be careful, and only identify extremely typical birds (preferably with colorring).

Some thoughts at the end of the fuscus bit. Since these bird are hard (impossible) to identify safely, nobody actually tries. Therefore we know very little about their migration routes. We actually don't know where they winter. There are very few recoveries in winter areas of dark winged bird (fuscus). Therefore they probably have a different wintering area than intermedius, which have a lot of winter recoveries.

Will post photos of graelsii-type birds later...