Whilst
birding at Sabkhat Al Fasl at the end of November I found a first calendar year
gull sitting on the edge of a flooded lake. It is unusual in Saudi Arabia to
get close to large white-headed gulls so this was a pleasant surprise. It is
possible the bird was injured in some way as it was under some overhead power
lines but there was no obvious signs of any injury. Anyway after taking a
number of photos I left it in the same place as I found it hoping it was all
right. Another problem was identifying the bird as although it looked
superficially like a Steppe Gull barabensis
it also had feature of Caspian Gull cachinans
although I thought the bill size and shape was wrong for that species (but see
below). As I was uncertain of the
identity I sent it to Jan Jorgensen and expert gull enthusiast and birder who
is always willing to share this thoughts on identification with me. Jan gave me
the following thoughts on the bird “As the photograph was taken in November it´s
quite worn with many 2nd generation scapulars, which are a bit worn already,
with a few juvenile rear ones. Seemingly there are no 2nd generation coverts
and tertials. So could it be a Caspian Gull? Scapular pattern, tertial and to a
certain degree, covert pattern, do fit a 1cy Caspian. The bill dimensions and
shape of it would fit a male type bird. The alternative species would be Heuglin’s
Gull heuglini or Steppe Gull barabensis. The bird looks better and
favours Steppe Gull on wear, however, some heuglini
are more advanced it seems, with many 2nd generation scapulars at this time
of year, but probably less worn otherwise. Many barabensis also have many 2nd generation coverts in November. Separating
many barabensis from heuglini is quite a challenge, as you
would know. Coverts have much white admixed, not solidly darkish as usual in
the mentioned three. So, I dare not to be so confident in identifying your
gull, although there’s something of a heuglini/barabensis
structure over it. Pity that there aren´t any more pictures”. As always I am
very grateful to Jan for his help and advice on this tricky gull.
