Caspian gull (Larus cachinnans)

Charles Bridge, Prague. Dec 20th, 2019

comments (6)

Thibaud Aronson

Lion

Even in one of the most touristy cities in the world, there is always potentially a new bird for me!
Disclaimer: the identification of Larus gulls is not my forte, so I'm not 100% sure about this one, waiting for confirmation from the experts on inat, I might retract my ID later. Incidentally, I suspect a number of the other Caspian gull photos on JD are misidentified :/ Posted 5 years ago
1. Ferdy Christant
  
  Lion
  
  Thanks for the heads-up. If you're confident about a misidentification, feel free to move in and remove/change the ID. Or alternatively, report them to me. Posted 5 years ago
2. 1. Thibaud Aronson
    
    Lion
    
    The thing is, I litterally learned about Caspian gull ID the day I took that photo, and out of the 3 birds I thought might have been that species, only the one in the photo I uploaded turned out to actually be one, so I can hardly claim to be an expert!
    But for example the reference photo for the species in JD has this bright yellow eye, while one of the field marks of caspian is that it usually has a small "bullethole" dark eye. Besides, it would really be a rarity in southern Spain, not really what the descricption of the photo conveys. So I suspect that it's in fact a yellow-legged gull, which is the common big gull of the Mediterranean shores.
    Same with Jivko's photos, which show bright yellow legs, and yellow-legged is much more common than caspian in Bulgaria in summer (according to ebird).
    Then on this photo
    
    you can again see a yellow eye. Furthermore, Caspian gulls are also notable for having a very white head and a long, narrow bill. This bird, with its streaked head and chunky bill, is probably a herring gull.
    BUT, I've gotten gulls wrong often enough that I'd I'm not sure I want to mess with other people's IDs... Posted 5 years ago, modified 5 years ago
  2. 1. Ferdy Christant
      
      Lion
      
      Thanks, Thibaud! Humble and helpful as always.
      
      Note that you are encouraged to correct IDs on the photos of others if they are wrong. You can remove the ID and re-identify, and post a comment explaining the ID challenge.
      
      Care to give this a try? Or want me to do it? Posted 5 years ago
    2. 1. Thibaud Aronson
        
        Lion
        
        Yes of course, and I have rectified a number of IDs for bird photos here. (Still have some pending ones where the photographer never got back to me...)
        If you're convinced by my arguments for these specific photos, I'll take care of it :) Posted 5 years ago
      2. Ferdy Christant
        
        Lion
        
        If you're convinced, just do it. Don't wait for permission from the photographer or me. Species IDs are like a Wiki, community edited. Posted 5 years ago