Tom Smith & George Swann saw it yesterday.
Some folk are still confused as to the identity of this bird. Even in the unlikely event (based on numerous expert European opinions) that this bird is a ‘Heuglin’s’ Gull, then according to the latest International Ornithological Congress Checklist adopted by BARC it is still a Lesser Black-backed Gull, merely another subspecies. Their determination is based on a paper in British Birds 2008 by Collinson et al. which recommended lumping these taxa. It is treated similarly in the Howard & Moore and BirdLife International Checklists as indeed it is in Lynx ‘Birds of the World’. I thought Clements split it but some say not so am unsure there. That List may have been revised today! Nevertheless some modern authors split it such as Olsen & Larsonn (2003) in their Helm Gulls book but note that that was published prior to 2008 as was the Howell & Dunn’s America’s Gull book. Nevertheless, ID to ultra-taxa level is a desirable aim particularly as that determines the origin of the bird.
Regarding the collection of DNA material, that will be attempted but even if achieved it is unlikely to achieve a resolution any time soon. A large immature gull present in Broome sometime prior to 2005 as I’m informed, was identified as a Kelp Gull. It was deliberately caught for this purpose but I’m told the blood is still stored in fridge of a well-known local birder! Having the material analysed and compared after collection is another problem!
Mike Carter 30 Canadian Bay Road Mount Eliza VIC 3930 Tel (03) 9787 7136 ===============================
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