An afternoon at Rutland Water - October 15, 2012

The Azorean Yellow-legged Gull had been seen yesterday afternoon and so I decided to go again this afternoon in the hope of seeing it.

When I arrived at lagoon four all of the gulls were in the northwest corner of the lagoon and not one was in the area they usually gather in.  There was no sign of the Azorean and so I decided to go to lapwing hide.  I called at crake hide first where I heard and then briefly saw a Kingfisher.  Seven Goldeneye were the best off lapwing and so I walked back to shoveler hide on lagoon three.

There were numerous Tufted Duck on the lagoon three but there was no sign of the drake Scaup but I did locate a male and female Red-crested Pochard.  There was also at least twelve Pintail feeding to the left of the hide.

When I returned to dunlin hide on lagoon four the gulls were gathering in the normal area and Colin told me the Azorean Yellow-legged Gull as present.  I soon located the bird and it was showing well but sat down and started to roost and shortly afterwards several Common Gulls blocked it from view.  At one point all the gulls flew around and the Azorean was one of the first back on the ground when it showed well again but was eventually obscured by other gulls.  Matthew then picked out an adult Caspian Gull, which also showed well.

Whilst watching the Azorean Yellow-legged Gull the light was fairly constant and so the variations in plumage described by John Wright were not observed.  The hood was always distinctive and the mantle appeared slightly darker than nearby Yellow-legged Gulls.  The hood extended from the rear crown, below the eye to the throat with the streaking heaviest on the crown.  The bill had a shallow gonys angle and was yellowish with a dull orange tip to the lower mandible.  The bill was also parallel sided recalling Caspian Gull.  It appeared a rather chunky bird on the ground and there were three small white tips to the visible primaries, which were in fact primaries six, seven and eight as John had noted that primaries nine and ten were not fully grown.

The Caspian Gull showed well for several minutes when some of the characteristic structural points were noted.  It appeared fairly lanky alongside the other gulls with the tibia looking particularly long and thin.  The bill was also obviously parallel-sided and there was little evidence of any gonys angle.  It appeared rather attenuated at the rear and the belly hung noticeably lower after the legs.