EricB

A nice selection of birds. I like the Red necked Grebe best; looks like its trying its best to avoid being ticked.
Pic 6 Plastic Mallard (ie hybrid)
Pic 13 Dunlin
Pic 16b is a 2nd summer Great Black backed -note the massive bill.
pic 17 Common Gull ( Mew usually refers to the American species/sub species Larus brachyrhynchus) juvenile bird going into 1st winter.The bill is still predominantly dark and retains much of its juvenile flight feathers.The grey mantle feathers are the 1st winter moult coming through.The head and neck are moulted fist winter feathers.
Pic 18 Black headed Gull is again a juv moulting into first winter plumage. All the brown feathers(nape , coverts,tertials) are juvenile feathers.There are some pale grey feathers on the mantle which are first winter feathers.
Cheers
E

EricB

Thanks  John for that interesting question.
As you know there are a lot of dodgy ducks, particularly in Europe.The dodgy Mallards tend to be a bit bigger than the genuine article.This individuals head shape and and bill length doesn't look too good for a pure Mallard.
I don't really understand Mallard moult sequences and appreciate  you pointing out that this bird is almost certainly still moulting.I have no idea if this is the way Mallards are supposed to replace their head feathers, but I will may more attention to this in the future.
Samuel,Regarding Pic 16 I think this is an adult summer Lesser black backed - having only scraped through GCSE Gulls ID I hesitate to call this a 'Baltic Gull' but will settle for Larus fuscus. Note the size difference and gentler look of this bird in direct comparison to the GBB in the wider view of 16b.
I can't really get my head round Gulls but these people seem to be interested!  http://www.gull-research.org/
You might find this link of some interest. http://www.surfbirds.com/mb/Feat ... heuglins-gulls.html
With kind regards,
Eric

mallard5.jpg (90.35 KB)

26/10/2011 03:02

[ Last edited by EricB at 26/10/2011 03:47 ]