Mark et al.,
If you happen to check out large Silver Gull flocks it may be a good idea to
check carefully for Red-billed Gull(s). I think the lack of records for SG in
NZ and RBG in OZ is rather due to neglect than to actual lack of these taxa.
This past Saturday during SOSSA's Wollongong pelagic we had hundreds of Silver
Gulls with us all they way out to the shelf break and back. Several times I got
glimpses of a bird/birds with reduced white and more black in the primary tips.
Tony Keene was able to take a few pictures of a gull with only two white
mirrors. I haven't had the time yet to carefully analyze the pictures butI had
a quick skim through the HANZAB Silver Gull chapter (they treat scopulinus as a
subspecies of novaehollandiae). I
wasn't able to find much on ID of adult birds. They say that juv. RBGs
have a dark subterminal band to the tail whereas SGs don't. Maybe I
missed information because I didn't have a proper read.Hadoram Shirihai's
Antarctic Wildlife book treats them as two species: SG
usually three mirrors (but sometimes two!)/RBG two mirrors, SG paler
than RBG, SG longer-billed and more slender-billed, SG slightly larger
than RBG and the wing measurements were slightly different, too.
Not sure how to tell a two-mirrored SG with certainty from a RBG in the field!
Cheers,
Nikolas
----------------
Nikolas Haass
Sydney, NSW
________________________________
From: "" <>
To: Birding-Aus <>
Sent: Tuesday, June 28, 2011 9:07 AM
Subject: Gulls and Terns in Sydney
G'day everyone,
Can anyone point to some sites in and around Sydney that are great places for
seeing Terns? I've spent some time at Longy and have seen plenty of Crested
Terns there, with the odd Little, Caspian and White-fronted Terns seen from
time to time, but would also like to know if there are other places in and
around Sydney that are more reliable places to see these and other Tern species.
I have planned a trip up to Newcastle, and also to Nowra in the next couple of
weeks to look for other Terns too, so any help in finding some Terns in those
areas, or places along the way would also be very much appreciated.
Also, I'm interesting in knowing if there are any places around Sydney where
Silver Gulls can be reliably seen en masse, or if there are any known breeding
colonies in Sydney. I'm hoping to find a place that might have hundreds of
birds if that is possible. I remember seeing a couple breed at Homebush a few
years ago, but not since. HANZAB mentions that they breed around Mascot. Would
this still be correct?
Any help is much appreciated.
Regards,
Mark
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