1. Field identification guide to large gulls in Israel Created by: Amir Ben Dov and Yoav Perlman, October 2009 Updated June 2010 [email_address] [email_address] Moderator: Mars muusse, Ehud Dovrat Special thanks: Morten Helberg – Norway, Risto Juvaste – Finland, Theo Muusse – The Netherlands, Hadoram Shirihai, Prof. Peter de Knijff - The Netherlands, Klaus Malling Olsen, Liebers, D Images: Theo Muusse, Mars muusse Gal Shon, Avi Meir, Yoav Perlman, Amir Ben Dov * Unless stated otherwise, all images by Amir Ben Dov © All images are copyright of the photographers Part 1

2. This presentation was created to assist birders to identify mainly adult large gulls in Israel

4. Basic gull topography Orbital ring Iris Gonys Secondaries R6 R1 P5 P9 P10 Mirror Moon Mirrors Advanced topography information in the following links : Gull topography 1 , Gull topography 2

5. Caspian Gull P10 All – most white P9 – mostly white Black on P10 – P6 very little /missing black on P5 Very small amount of black on wingtip (smallest of all YL Gulls) Armenian Gull Heuglin’s Gull White mirror on P10 Black reaches P5 and sometimes P4 Black on P10 – P5 White mirrors on P10 and P9 Medium amount of black on wing tip Allot of black on wing tip Yellow-legged Gull P10 edge, All – most white P9 – white spot Black on P10 – P5 Wingtip patterns Large moons at P5-P7 Black reaches P5, sometimes P4 and even P3 (10% of the population)

6. Head shapes Armenian Gull Yellow-legged Gull Caspian Gull Steep forehead, rounded head Relatively small bill Massive bill, big gonys Moderate forehead Long straight bill Flat forehead Heuglin’s Gull Large bill, prominent gonys Relatively steep forehead

7. michahellis cachinnans heuglini armenicus

9. Comparison of breeding range to moult timing in large gulls Reproduced with permission of the authors from: Liebers, D., de Knijff, P. and Helbig, A.J. (2004). The herring gull complex is not a ring species. Proc. R. Soc. Lond 271: 893-901. Moult start North- easterly michahellis armenicus cachinnans barabensis intermedius graellsii fuscus heuglini

10. Adult Gulls – average primary moult dates May Apr Jul Jun Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec Michahellis (Israel) Armenicus (Israel) cachinnans P1 P10 P1 P1 P1 P1 P10 P10 Jan Feb Mar heuglini fuscus P10 P10 P3 P2 fuscus

11. Moult directions Moult from Tail R1 (inside)> R6 (Outside) Total of 12 feathers, change starts when Primary moult is halfway Greater coverts GC counted from the inside out, total of 24 Secondaries marked S counted from the outside to the inside, total of 18 moult from 1-15 and 18-16 (when moult reaches 15 then 18 will moult and then 17 till they meet) Tertials marked as tt Total of 6 counted and moult from up down Median coverts MC counted from the inside out, total of 24, counted as % of renewed feathers as well (see above) Greater P Coverts normally moult simultaneously with Primaries – not used for moult score 10 Primaries, moult from inside out, mark the complete moult Lesser Coverts, 4 rows, counted for convenience as 24 feathers if for example; 3, 4, 5, 8, 11 are replaced, this is scored as 5 feathers, is 5/24 = 21% -> this is classified as category 1-25%, and this is the final outcome. So, missing a single feather is not really influencing the final scores; but if we want to enlarge upon individual birds, we can always take the original scoring sheets and tell the exact scores. Scapulars are divided as UUS, ULS, LUS and LLS, (upper upper, upper lower, lower upper, lower lower) We calculate % of renewed feathers, so we normally do not point down individual feathers in these tracts. We estimate the % renewed in classes: 0% new, 1-25%, 25-50%, 50-75%, 75-99% and 100% renewed. If a next replacement starts, we repeat this, but then we count 3rd gen feathers. R1 R6 P10 P5 S1 S15

12. Yellow-legged Gull - Larus michahellis , adult, halfway through primary moult Ma'agan Michael 9/7/10 Gal Shon © P10 P9 P8 P7 P6 starts growing P5 half grown Unmoulted secondaries P1 - P4 new and fully grown Primaries moult once a year from inner P1 to outer P10 All old and worn T1–T3 (also referred as R) (central tail feathers) worn will soon moult

13. Heuglin’s Gull - Larus heuglini , adult, end of primary moult Ashdod 23/1/10 P1-P8 all new P9 almost full size P10 half grown

15. Armenian Gull – Larus armenicus , adult spring, Ashdod 9/3/10

16. Armenian Gull – Larus armenicus , adult winter, Ma’agan Michael 1/10/09 Medium-short bill, steep forehead and rounded head Black band on bill characteristic in winter Most adults show dark eye Relatively dark mantle lighter than heuglini darker than michahellis , and cachinnans

17. Armenian Gull - Larus armenicus, Adult, Ma’agan Michael 13/9/10 Note the wide black band on the bill tip Paler eyed bird with dark spots on the iris can be seen in about 10% of the population This bird is in the process of the complete moult that takes place from late June – November

18. Armenian Gull – Larus armenicus , adult winter, Ashdod 6/1/10 Black on P10 – P5 or P4 * up to 10% will show some black on P3 as well P10 – white mirror * some birds will show mirror on P9 as well Much black on wing tip

19. Armenian Gull – Larus armenicus, 1 st summer birds, Ma’agan Michael 14/4/09 Often dark markings around eye and on ear coverts

20. Armenian Gull – Larus armenicus, 1 st winter Ashdod 12/9/08

21. Armenian Gull – Larus armenicus, 1 st summer, Ma’agan Michael 24/4/09

22. Armenian Gull – Larus armenicus, 1 st summer, Ma’agan Michael 14/4/09 Between mid April – late August heavily worn and very bleached Inner primaries P1-P3 are new This armenicus is in its complete moult stage, started perhaps in early march Central median coverts are new

23. Armenian Gull – Larus armenicus, advanced 2 nd winter, Ashdod 02/10/09

25. Yellow-legged Gull - Larus michahellis , adult summer (early autumn) plumage, Nachlieli Island Rosh Hanikra 17/9/09 Mantle and wing color lighter than armenicus darker than cachinnans

26. Yellow-legged Gull - Larus michahellis , 4 th summer, Tel Aviv University Zoological Garden (natural population) 22/5/10 Massive bill, bright yellow year-round (in adults) The very last coverts of a young bird P10 - White P9 - white mirror Black on P10 – P5

27. Yellow-legged Gull - Larus michahellis , adult, summer plumage Ma'agan Michael 22/5/09 Massive head and bill

28. Yellow-legged Gull – Larus michaellis, Tel Aviv University Zoological Garden (natural population) 5/6/10

29. Yellow-legged Gull – Larus michahellis , winter plumage (fairly rare winterer in Israel) Ashdod 30/10/09

30. Yellow-legged Gull – Larus michahellis , winter plumage (fairly rare winterer in Israel) Jaffa Port 4/2/10, Yoav Perlman ©

31. Larus michahellis 2 nd CY Ashdod 16/11/09

32. Yellow-legged Gull - Larus michahellis , 2 nd summer (3CY), extensive moult Safari, Ramat Gan (natural population) 4/6/10

33. Yellow-legged Gull - Larus michahellis , fledgling, Tel Aviv University Zoological Garden (natural population) 18/6/10

34. Yellow-legged Gull - Larus michahellis , Fledgling, Tel Aviv University Zoological Garden (natural population) 18/6/10

35. Yellow-legged Gull - Larus michahellis , adult and 2 fledglings, Ma'agan Michael 6/6/08

37. Caspian Gull - Larus cachinnans , Ashdod 30/1/10 Long slender bill in comparison to all adult gulls seen in Israel Small gonys Adult uniformly pale mantle, wings and coverts (palest of all Israeli large white-headed gulls)

38. Caspian Gull - Larus cachinnans , very large male Ashdod 19/3/08

39. Comparison between cachinnans (upper photo) and michahellis (lower photo) taken at the same date and light conditions note the difference in: Head shape Bill color Bill length Leg color Leg thickness Upperparts color Eye color Ashdod 11/12/09

40. Caspian Gull - Larus cachinnans , Ashdod 6/1/10 Much white, little black

42. Caspian Gull - Larus cachinnans , Ashdod 23/1/10 Adults have pink or yellow legs

44. Steppe Gull - Larus barabensis , bird rehabilitated in NPA’s Afek Wildlife Hospital, ringed and released by Yoav Perlman at Ashdod seashore 16/2/08 Long, straight bill resembles cachinnans Small eye in comparison to all other YL Gulls

45. Steppe Gull – Larus barabensis , Acre sea shore 7/2/09

46. Steppe Gull – Larus barabensis , Ashdod 16/3/10

47. Steppe Gull - Larus barabensis, Eilat north beach 1/3/08 P10 - white mirror P9 – usually no mirror Black reaches P3

48. Steppe Gull – Larus barabensis , Ashdod 16/3/10 P3 shows black P4 P5 P6 P7 P8 P9 P10 Bluish mantle and wings

50. Herring Gull - Larus argentatus argentatus, North France 3/1/2002 Image by Mars Muusse © head streaking, shared only by immature heuglini and fuscus, in such extent mantle colors Kodak grey scale 5-7 Very pale eye Pink Legs

51. Larus argentatus argentatus , 1 st CY 26/11/2006 Belgium (Ringed at North Russia) Image by Mars Muusse © Larus argentatus argentatus wing pattern, U.K 6/1/92 Open wings images by Peter Stewarte ©

52. Larus argentatus argentatus , 3 rd CY, the Netherlands, 31/12/2008 Image by Mars Muusse ©

53. Herring Gull - Larus argentatus argenteus Brighton England 26/11/08 Very pale eye Brown marking on head and nape Pale mantle colors Kodak grey scale 4-6 Pink Legs