Hi folks,
Jack has quickly knocked up a Wildairies report with all necessary info on the Black-tailed Gull in Gladstone, central Qld. http://aussiebirding.wildiaries.com/trips/10430
As Mike and Trevor said, this bird is easily twitchable at the boat ramp at the Gladstone Yacht Club (23 50 17 151 15 08). When not at the ramp it apparently has previously moved within about 500m radius of there around the marina complex. Ben Weston (who found it and notified Tim Dolby on Birdline Victoria!) is a bit of a character and a happy to meet anyone keen to see it. He lives on a yacht and spends the wet season in Gladstone and the winter sailing up to Cape York and back each year. Everyone at the Gladstone Marina knows Ben and would be able to get in touch with him if a visiting birder was struggling to find the gull. Ben first saw an unusual gull on Boxing Day and only got a better look on 12/01/11. He knew it wasn’t a Pacific Gull and that it could well be a BTGull….An awesome effort…..
The bird itself is a bit tatty and has an interesting bill colour unlike the pictures that I have seen in Harrison. We think that it is a second winter bird. Anyway, the pics are in Jack’s report for any gull experts to correct the ID…hopefully to something new for the country….haha…
Cheers,
Bill
PS The Bruce Hwy is open from Rockhampton again now and also all the way from Brisbane having just opened up after the floods on our way back. ============================== To unsubscribe from this mailing list, send the message: unsubscribe (in the body of the message, with no Subject line) to: birding-aus-request@vicnet.net.au
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Comments
5 responses to “Gladstone gull”
No false alarm Bill, any large Gull in the tropics should be reported, especially a subadult like this, they can be difficult.
Cheers Jeff.
Sorry for the false alarm folks and Rohan, Tony, Mike and Jeff……any large gull up here is interesting though and that individual got me a bit excited because it didn’t look like any Kelp that I have seen previously…will have to buy the gull book! Cheers, Bill
Hi All,
Thanks to Jeff D and Tony K for feedback. Having opened a few books this morning I too am now more convinced that it is a Kelp Gull.
Any large gull in the northern half of Australia is a rarity so congrats to Ben Weston on the find and many thanks to Bill and Jack Moorhead for following up and documenting the bird with such a nice range of images.
Cheers, Rohan
Hi folks,
The only Black-tailed Gull that I have seen previously was the Geraldton immature a few years ago and few reference books. I have other photos and presume also that it is still there for anyone else to have a look at this scruffy looking individual. Those features you mention , especially leg colour, have me a bit puzzled also
So I am more than happy with any input and be good to know for sure…….especially if Lesser Black-backed is a chance?
Cheers,
Bill
Looks like a trashy example of a second summer Kelp Gull to me. Cheers jeff.