Whilst birding the Uqair in early November I went to an area of public beach where a few gulls have been seen in the last few years. Although initially there only appeared to be a few waders present we managed to locate six Large White-headed Gulls that appeared to be mainly Heuglin’s Gulls. One of the Heuglin’s Gulls was much darker plumaged than the others in the group but was not a Baltic Gull which would be even darker, typically showing no contrast between upperparts and primary ground colour. Heuglin’s Gull almost always shows extensive neck streaking and are in primary moult at this time of year. This is not the commonest Gull in Saudi Arabia, with about 8% to 10% of all LWHG being this taxon, with the majority being Steppe Gull.
