Whilst birding the Jizan Corniche on 6 & 8
July 2017 Phil Roberts and I found a second calendar year Lesser Black-backed
Gull (Baltic Gull) Larus fuscus fuscus. The bird was wearing a white
darvic ring on its left leg with black alpha-numeric details showing CC5P. We
sent off the details to Finland and got back the below information saying the
bird was ringed 370 days before in Kuhmoinen, Keski-Suomi, Häme, Finland (61°41′N
25°28′E) and had travelled 5159 kilometres in a SSE direction to reach Jizan.
The bird has probably spent the winter in Jizan, as other Baltic Gulls do, such
as Laura, a satellite tracked bird that wintered south of Jizan in Saudi Arabia
in 2013 – 2014. As the bird was is a second calendar year individual it has
obviously decided to stay the summer in southwest Saudi Arabia with up to 20
other second calendar year Baltic Gulls. The bird was seen on two dates in
Jizan and both times within only a few hundred metres of where we first found
it so it looks like it is site faithful. We looked carefully at all other
Baltic Gulls in the area to see if any others had rings but could not find any
others.
Lesser Black-backed (Baltic) Gull Larus
fuscus fuscus
Ring Number: HT282352
Darvic Ring: White with black lettering CC5P
Ringing date: 01-Jul-2016
Ringing Place: Kuhmoinen, Keski-Suomi, Häme, Finland
(Co-ords: 61°41′N 25°28′E)
Age: Nestling
Ringer: Pekka Mäkinen (953)
Finding date: 06-Jul-2017
Finding Place: Jizan Corniche, Jizan region,
Saudi Arabia (Co-ords: 16°56′N 42°32′E)
Finding Condition: Bird found alive
Duration: 370 days
Distance: 5155 km
Direction: 157° (SSE)
Finder: Phil Roberts & Jem Babbington
