{"id":2731,"date":"2008-02-17T12:38:56","date_gmt":"2008-02-17T12:38:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.simplybirdsandmoths.co.uk\/sbam\/?p=2731"},"modified":"2012-10-13T12:42:30","modified_gmt":"2012-10-13T12:42:30","slug":"thayers-type-gull-derbyshire-17th-february-2008","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.simplybirdsandmoths.co.uk\/sbam\/thayers-type-gull-derbyshire-17th-february-2008\/","title":{"rendered":"Thayer\u2019s \u201ctype\u201d Gull – Derbyshire – 17th February 2008"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\t\"\"<\/a>\n<\/p>\n

\n\tApologies for the poor quality of these digiscoped images. The bird was at some distance <\/span><\/span><\/strong>when I was observing it. This gull was previously discovered at Stanton Harcourt Gravel Pit <\/span>complex, Oxfordshire, during December 2007.<\/span><\/span><\/strong>\n<\/div>\n
\n\t \n<\/div>\n
\n\tTwo local Derbyshire birders then <\/span>discovered it in the day-time roost at Poolsbrook, Derbyshire on 16th February 2008. The <\/span>bird was very distinctive in its appearance and so was easily identified as the same bird. <\/span>A comprehensive article was written on this bird by the original finders and appeared in <\/span>Birding World Vol 20 No:12 . Despite it showing many features of Thayer’s, there were <\/span>certain anomalies in the plumage that counted against it being a true Thayer’s. The <\/span>conclusion was that it must be some sort of “Hybrid”. <\/span>\n<\/div>\n
\n\t \n<\/div>\n
\n\t\"\"<\/a>\n<\/div>\n
\n\t \n<\/div>\n
\n\tThe bird was easy to pick out amongst the large flock of mixed gull species. The overall <\/span>\n<\/div>\n
\n\ttypical “Arctic Gull” coloration contrasting with the dark primaries and obvious pale tertials<\/span>\n<\/div>\n
\n\twere distinctive. All the other large juvenile gull species that were on view showed very <\/span>\n<\/div>\n
\n\tdark centres to their tertials. The gull appeared to be the size of Herring Gull, looked small <\/span>\n<\/div>\n
\n\theaded, almost pigeon like and very bulbous and heavy in the chest, breast and belly. <\/span>\n<\/div>\n
\n\t \n<\/div>\n
\n\t\"\"<\/a>\n<\/div>\n
\n\t \n<\/div>\n
\n\tA relatively heavy but small looking bill, mostly black put paler towards the base. A small <\/span>\n<\/div>\n
\n\tdark beady eye. Overall a soft velvet mushroom grey-brown colour to the head, neck, <\/span>\n<\/div>\n
\n\tbreast and belly. In bright sunshine the birds appearance kept changing with the light <\/span>\n<\/div>\n
\n\tconditions.At times appearing very pale and then looking very dark. <\/span>\n<\/div>\n
\n\t \n<\/div>\n
\n\t\"\"<\/a>\n<\/div>\n
\n\t \n<\/div>\n
\n\tThe under-tail was heavily barred and the underwing appeared a silky white. In the image <\/span>\n<\/div>\n
\n\tabove the wings look very translucent and much paler than in the folded wing, appearing <\/span>\n<\/div>\n
\n\tmore like an Iceland or Glaucous Gull. It seems that the consensus of opinion in this bird<\/span>\n<\/div>\n
\n\tnot being a classic Thayer’s, lies in close attention to fine plumage detail. The article in <\/span>\n<\/div>\n
\n\tBirding World states – Anomalies such as milky tertials; marbled greater coverts and “open” <\/span>scapular pattern, all seem to count against it being a pure Thayer’s, suggesting it is more <\/span>likely to be some kind of Hybrid, but of what?  <\/span>\n<\/div>\n
\n\t \n<\/div>\n
\n\t\"\"<\/a>\n<\/div>\n
\n\t \n<\/div>\n
\n\tPlumage detail on this scale would not normally be possible had the bird not been found on <\/span>such easily viewed places (Dix Pit & Poolsbrook). If this bird was found on open water on a <\/span>large reservoir, I feel it would be extremely difficult to pick it out let alone ID it, more likely it <\/span>would be overlooked. It just goes to show the great distances that Gulls travel during the <\/span>winter, which makes gull watching so rewarding.<\/span>\n<\/div>\n
\n\t \n<\/div>\n
\n\t \n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Apologies for the poor quality of these digiscoped images. The bird was at some distance when I was observing it. This gull was previously discovered at Stanton Harcourt Gravel Pit complex, Oxfordshire, during December 2007.   Two local Derbyshire birders then discovered it in the day-time roost at Poolsbrook, Derbyshire on 16th February 2008. The bird was very distinctive […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[174,18,524,172],"tags":[531],"class_list":["post-2731","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-174","category-birds","category-birdsof2008","category-year","tag-thayers-gull"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.simplybirdsandmoths.co.uk\/sbam\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2731","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.simplybirdsandmoths.co.uk\/sbam\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.simplybirdsandmoths.co.uk\/sbam\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.simplybirdsandmoths.co.uk\/sbam\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.simplybirdsandmoths.co.uk\/sbam\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2731"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.simplybirdsandmoths.co.uk\/sbam\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2731\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.simplybirdsandmoths.co.uk\/sbam\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2731"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.simplybirdsandmoths.co.uk\/sbam\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2731"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.simplybirdsandmoths.co.uk\/sbam\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2731"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}