Whilst birding Sharma Beach in December I came across a small number or large White-headed Gulls. I was looking to see if I could find Yellow-legged Gull that had been recorded in this area previously but was only able to identify Caspian Gulls. The photos below show four different birds from top to bottom as follows:
Bird 1: Probably a Caspian Gull but immature gulls are always extremely tricky.
Bird 2: A pale-eyed variant Caspian Gull with characteristic shape and palish legs. Klaus Malling Olsen mentioned to me previously that the bill colour and pattern in more eastern Caspian Gulls are brighter than seen in the western part of the range.
Bird 3: Caspian Gull with typical wing-tip pattern; complete white tip to p10 and large white spot on p9 as well as long black tongues in mid primaries.
Bird 4: Caspian Gull showing the white tip to p10.
