Today I had the pleasure to spend a day gulling at Ashdod with Klaus Malling Olsen. He arrived a couple of days before the festival to join the Ashdod gull team (Amir, Ehud and myself) for some hardcore drop-dead gulling.
It was a terrific gull day, with peak
fuscus migration. We had something like 3000 gulls, about 80% of them were
fuscus. The light was excellent so we had good photographic opportunities.
It was a very educational day for me. Even after watching gulls for so many days at Ashdod, I learned so much from Klaus today. Eventually we agreed on most gulls, which was a good sign for me...
Most
barabensis have left already by now, but we had a few birds, including this beautiful couple. Look at this amazing yellow tongue!
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjdYHeN_tz_3J5CWLw4hYSleH2A9bw5Q-mLRKaK8dpF0LTSrSKoQo1JQwailKgM9uajujLXvvj991ILpglCpAtvx4Z3Ftl8tS0-XMboP4brrvncJ4wbrKnRwL9P_kjSxWFylXIQyO3ufJmR/s400/pair+barabensis.jpg)
This image shows the wing pattern quite nicely, especially the black tongues all the way to P4, with strong black 'streaks' penetrating the grey.
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgCkRL5K2Btosyb96Ed3IUGlC5HeRuBR4_WJQ2nvCyenoDIHIeRCuf4ZQqY6fMa5Bx2KgKuknY0fa48AIWgzv1S3hG4iQdLlzPFMhwnMYRUswBi_v2sE0W4a5h5AAS6FFLdXMZ_EQMTfls4/s400/barabensis.jpg)
It was another big day for rings (Ehud has the figures, possibly 50 or so), including this Swedish ring.
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEglkZsaCjucwpDODxUC-aQyao5S4WRvKkqaSxVS2Ag6tJ9Ol9zyh9oIxCphnEETUGTl9k1RS5-fF6UGEl8tq9Mmlz0ywKJhGKuAZ6V9rN4_EbYCIwQrNaI77lMCFHnp3Do-V9wkVn0JshQ8/s400/MR51_Ashdod_160310_YoavPerlman.jpg)
There were other birds too. We had two late Greater Spotted Eagles. This bird confused us a bit because of its long gape, but it is identified by the unbarred remiges and characteristic pale comma on outer primaries.
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg1svw_HoEgpm6C5snB_JSFz8_mKFq3ogYED3YhDN-4F-qZTHOZ8yxWHzIRweoM6O9Nm13JMUOtmne1Sy3w7UCtAHRQlCfbLNsXHxCXkbOwb_HezpPjUNN-2udR6UtjNgk9T9uYfgycL7ly/s400/GSE.jpg)
Another nice bird we had was a male Desert Wheatear. One late Pallas's Gull was nice too.
The rubbish dump was very attractive today. It was very impressive to see all of those
fuscus.
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiSIvheoOM012cii7ipcguMlOlYnZ__irDRM9ZgSVmrzva8CQnrp4c6bCEJBrsCPXkIuyC6gT2LPTUqFoIjU0Ep14z3Az0tmqKHKwL2jijROpV3yHGxQdiQvhun9FRV1DWcIH6F-QS2hXdU/s400/fuscus.jpg)
This is a nice trio -
fuscus,
armenicus (2nd winter) and
heuglini (3rd winter):
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh-y_QAZeHA7z5AW3Ma_RNqLUiSSbVqb33vFzmiKEsogLP_jxu5xAdcGl3ne4GNBk84IvP1Wc6lmJ7v6kY1DZj33KOfL73N43qMRYdmgmIfUAqqGn6XOmGbfCzynQBXfofnLy32VDP2trIL/s400/trio.jpg)
And a close up on the
heuglini admiring the Israeli scenery. Note the still growing P10 - typically late moult of this species:
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiGubm5OEN0BqN4BgRQm_j-HpsBIm2fLTNZM7xmLJoCASYquPlnANu4pUgh0FgD-4DlmPQay0qYvCcwW8HU_TWjk4hhbANDMFwVMfYFVWkx4lHkhGPXXQ_-h4iNrEXRztUo-Mk4aAU9plYx/s400/heuglini-3rdw.jpg)
we had very large numbers of
cachinnans, almost all 1st-winters.
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