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many thanks, mars, for this large set of excellent pics. it will take some time to go through them but now they are here for reference! it's great that you share these, same goes for your recent efforts with the other taxa you recently posted on ORG and here!

From what I can see, it looks good for michahellis. JanJ Excuse me, colleagues. Birds like that sit now in hudreds on ice in centre of Minsk. I don't think it is michachellis as it has large white spots on primaries. Michahellis so far was not registered for Belarus. It's probably "omissus" type of...

JanJ wrote:Very nice video. Seems like a good candidate in my eyes.

JanJ

there should be no doubt. string of pearls can be nicely seen at 2:03 in the video, and everything else fits perfectly.

lou

like i mentioned in the other forums to me this looks best for a barabensis (steppe gull).

how did you recognize it as the same bird, ryszard? apart from the outer rectrices which indeed look identic only bill shape may give a hint - looks similar also. but apart from that? still can be a dark herring gull i guess.

hello,

this is a pure herring gull, presumably argenteus. nothing to point towards a caspian or YLG.

regards,

lou

i guess, soon there will appear a paper by peter adriaens about identification of heinei in the field.

hi ryzsard, what do you mean by higher. larger? if so, they vary a bit in size within subspecies but heinei is on average larger, especially longer winged. as they also tend to be a less advanced in scap moult (i think a higher percentage than nominate canus), this might be a heinei. but common gull...

hi ryszard, at least this one clearly isa 1w herring gull. can't help with the other though.

i think the original bird is a michahellis with a cachi-tail. covert pattern and head mask are very micha like as is the rest of the covert pattern with broad white fringes. hans' pics on svalan (see post only confirm my long felt suspicions. this is not a cachinnans: http://www.talk.gull-research.o...