The tale of the funny gull

Two weeks back I visited my local wader hot spot, trying to find something good among the commoner autumn fare.

Unfortunately, apart from a Long-toed Stint there was not much happening..so I turned my attention to the gulls.

Among 3 immature Black-headed Gulls was a very odd gull. It didn't match the primary pattern of a normal Black-headed, seemed to have a paler back, a larger hood and more coral-red legs and bill. At the distance I was viewing, over 500m, I could not see black on the bill (clear on subsequent pics).

I struggled to put a name to it..was it just an aberrant Black-headed? a hybrid? or something really rare like a Relict Gull or (Indian) Brown -headed Gull? Never having seen Brown -headed I could't rule it out, but it just didn't seem quite right for Relict, despite the upright pigeon-like stance, the prinamry pattern didn't match this species, or Brown-headed or indeed any species of gull.

Unfortunately, once I got home and reviewed the poor photos I had taken and cross-referenced them and my notes with Malling. Olsen and Larsen I was still none the wiser.

I asked friends, but they seemed unsure...mainly as my shots were so poor!

Then finally, another Japanese birder who had heard about my 'funny' gull, managed to get some much better shots, which revealed that the gull was almost certainly an aberrant Black-headed gull..though the hood, leg color and size (nearly as big as a neighbouring Black-tailed) still leave me not 100 percent certain.

Any comments are most welcome.

This week I have been mostly ..finding rare birds!

It is not often I get to say this, but suddenly downtown Hiroshima is turning into a postivie Avian Mecca.

In the past week I have seen more rare or unusual birds than in the past 8 years in the grounds of Hiroshima Castle. I would like to pretend that I have been finding all the truly rare birds ...but well I didn't, that was mosty down to Sumida-san..who is rapidly turning into something of a twitcher..pretty much unheard of outside Tokyo.

The local birders have accused me of having magical pockets..little do they know that this purple patch cannot last!

We have had so many good birds, that a birder from Osaka even turned up!

So what is all the fuss about? Well the star players in this surreal avian movie-like feast are mainly some locustela warblers that seem to think they are mice (big ones mind) and creep around, pretending that the sad little few box hedges we have are the wide grasslands of hokkaido.

In the past week, we have had 3 or 4 Grays Grasshopper Warblers (1 adult and 2-3 juveniles) and 4 Middendorf's Grasshopper Warblers (2 aduts and 2 juveniles)...sometiimes 2 of each species at once.

This has been backed up by an admirable supporting cast: 1 Brown Hawk Owl, 2 Oriental Honey Buzzard, 1 Ashy Minivet, 1 Black-browed Reed Warbler, 5 Stub-tailed bush Warblers, 10+ Eastern Crowned Warblers, 2-3 Sakhalin Leaf Warblers, 5+ Arctic Warblers, 10+ Brown Flycatchers, 2-3 Sooty Flycatchers, 5+ Narcissus Flycatchers, 2 Blue and White Flycatchers, 1-2 Grey-streakd Flycatchers, 2 Japanese Paradise Flycatchers, 1 Siberian Blue Robin, 2 Grey Thrush, 1 Swinhoes Robin, 20+ Red-cheeked Starling..and a Yellow Bunting (alas I missed the Bunting, Grey-Streaked Fly and Swinhoe's Robin).all in two small green oasis of hiroshima Castle and Shukkein Garden.

I have even found time to fit in a couple of side trips to the hasu fields of Minami-Iwakuni, with a Red-necked Phalarope and Long-toed Stint taking the wader prizes and an odd gull (answers on a postcard please!) running a close second.

Also managed to find a Greater Sand Plover and Marsh Sandpiper at the ever declining Yahata River.

What ever will be next...I have a wish list, but don't want to jinx things... The photos of the grays Grashopper Warbler and the iddendorf's Warblers are Sumida-san's..the phalarope and flycatcher are my...alas rather pathetic attempts!

If you want tosee more of his stunning images, go to his blog:

http://darrowby.seesaa.net