Israel has a small breeding population of Yellow-legged Gulls, something around 20-30 pairs. In recent years they began colonizing the Tel Aviv Metropolis, and like in many other places around the Mediterranean are becoming an urban species. Amir Ben Dov has been studying the colony in the Zoological Gardens of the Tel Aviv University for several years. Last year we ringed the chicks for the first time, and the first results about their dispersal are very interesting. Yesterday we returned to ring all the large chicks. We had 10 chicks, but there are still a few chicks too small and some eggs as well. This is me trying to fish one chick out of the bush:
Processing the birds:
The Zoo-Garden team - Ron and Ronny:
Back to mommy:
This year Amir had a fascinating discovery - he found two mixed pairs of Armenian X Yellow-legged. This is the first time Armenians breed in Israel. This is one of the mixed nests - the first chick just started hatching:
Many thanks to the garden team for their ongoing help and cooperation, and to Amir for his fantastic images.
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