Archives January - December 2005

25 November 2005
A second winter Caspian Gull first showed up in Fredrikstad in southeastern Norway during the autumn of 2004. It stayed through the winter, and returned in its third winter plumage in August 2005. We've put together pictures of the bird in three different plumages here.

Feature - Ukrainian Gulls Ukrainian birders Oleg Formanyuk and Pavel Panchenko have kindly provided a series of nice gull pictures from the Odessa region in Ukraine in November 2005. Caspian Gulls Two first-winter birds First-winter First-winter Third-winter Adult or near adult Adult (group) Adult or near adult Yellow-legged Gulls Adult Adult Adult Adult Adult Mew Gulls (heinei) Second-winter Adult winter Adult winter Adult winter

11 October 2005
We have uploaded four different pages of Great Black-backed Gulls today. A first-winter bird from March is here, a second-winter from October is here, a third-winter from March here, and finally two adult birds moulting primaries in September can be seen here.

28 July 2005
Four weeks ago an adult summer Laughing Gull was found in Finnmark county, northern Norway. This was only the third Norwegian record. See a picture of this exquisite bird here.

7 April 2005
Two different first winter Glaucous x Herring Gull hybrids from April are uploaded today. Four pictures of a Glaucous-like bird are here, and four pictures of a more intermediate bird can be seen here.

3 March 2005
New additions today are flightshots of immature Mew Gulls showing upperwing characteristics. First a first-winter bird here, then a second-winter bird here, and two pictures of a presumed third winter here. Flightshots of three different adult Herring Gulls can be found here, here and here. A sixth-winter Herring Gull is posted here, while a third winter is posing here.

14 February 2005
Three different adult argentatus Herring Gulls with "thayerish" primary patterns from the Hardangerfjord in western Norway are new today. Pictures here. A nice comparison shot of a second and a third winter Herring Gull from the same place can be seen here, and a ventral flightshot of a first winter Mew Gull from Bergen is here.

9 February 2005
A second winter Caspian Gull was found in Östfold county, southeastern Norway, two days ago. We have uploaded three pictures here. An adult Yellow-legged Gull, probably the first adult in Norway if accepted, was found in the same county during April 2004. Four videograbs can bee seen here.

Feature - Yellow-legged Herring Gulls A few yellow-legged Herring Gulls turn up every year in Norway. They differ from Yellow-legged Gulls in having more white and less black in the primaries, usually less intense yellow feet-color, paler mantle and scapulars, dark-streaked head in winter plumage and other head and bill proportions. It seems that many of these birds originate east of Norway, e.g. the Baltics and Finland. These yellow-legged Herring Gulls do also show red or reddish orbital rings more often than the normal ones. Such Herring Gulls are referred to as "omissus", despite being the argentatus subspecies. New updates Adult - January 2005, 2 pictures Adult - January 2005, 5 pictures Adult - January 2005, 1 picture Adult - January 2005, 4 pictures Adult - January 2005, 1 picture Previously at TNGP Adult - January 2000, 2 pictures Adult - March 1998, 1 picture Adult - April 2001, 3 pictures

21 January 2005
An adult Kumlien's Gull was found four days ago in Möre & Romsdal county, western Norway. Have a look at four slightly diffuse videograbs here.

12 January 2005
2005 really kicked off with an adult winter Ross's Gull at Örland at the coast of middle Norway on 8 January. It stayed for three days. Three excellent pictures can be seen here. We have also uploaded a second calendar year Ring-billed Gull from April 2001 which is here.