As I wrote in a post earlier this week on 1st winter Mediterranean Gulls, “A bird often mentioned as a potential vagrant to North America is the Mediterranean Gull Larus melanocephalus, a European species which has undertaken a westerly expansion from its core breeding range (which is still almost entirely in the Ukraine and Europe) since the 1950s. From Hungary, where it was breeding regularly by 1953, it spread into Germany and Belgium during the 1960s and the Netherlands by 1970. The first breeding occurrence of the Mediterranean Gull in Britain was in 1968, at Needs Ore Point (Hampshire), followed by a pair at Dungeness (Kent) in 1979, increasing to two pairs by 1985. Another site in north Kent was colonised in 1983, while scattered (and futile) breeding attempts with Black-headed Gulls L. ridibundus were noted along the UK’s south coast. The first breeding attempt in Ireland was in Antrim in 1995, followed by a pair nesting in Wexford in 1996.”

I went on to say that it was perhaps likely that a 1st winter would be most likely to make it across the Atlantic first, as it’s generally inexperienced young birds that get lost rather than adults. However, birding throws up surprise after surprise so perhaps it might be helpful to post a few images to give would-be observers in North America an idea what a non-breeding adult would look like as it flew past them on a cold winter’s morning (probably never to be seen again as said would-be observer tried to focus their binoculars with frozen fingers and in a panic knocked over their scope, but who knows eh?)…

Actually, a non-breeding adult Med Gull can be summed up in one word: ‘white’. As the following photos show they are quite Iceland Gull-like in terms of plumage (at least when seen from below). Records committees would no doubt require a long description to rule out leucistic or albino gulls as well as any of the ‘white-winged gulls’ like Iceland and Glaucous, but if seen properly a Med Gull is a distinctive enough species. Note that on some of the images below a distinctive dark leading edge to the outer primary can be seen: this apparently can wear off quite quickly as it’s very narrow, so the lack of such a ’streak’ doesn’t mean that you’ve not just seen North America’s first Med Gull.

Question now is: do you NA birders think that you’re likely to see one anytime soon? Care to comment below…?

 

 

 

 

 

Adult non-breeding Mediterranean Gulls
Radipole Lake RSPB Reserve, Weymouth, Dorset, UK. 02 October 2009.

All photographs copyright Charlie Moores 2009