Saturday 19 April 2014

Long tailed Duck - Ynyslas

An early morning stop at Ynys las turn car park revealed a summer drake Long tailed Duck, presumably the bird that has been seen on and off over the winter. 5 Red throated Diver, 40+ Commn Scoter and 5 Guillemot also offshore here. 
A steady passage of northward gulls produced an apparent 'white winger' amongst them. A 2nd year bird with gleaming underwings caused the heart to quicken, especially when it showed dusky primaries and a soft secondary bar! Could it be a Kumlein's Gull? The bird landed near the point and a quick dash after it and run through the dunes revealed it was still there.
Alarm bells rung when I saw the size of it- considerably larger than the accompanying herrings - almost GBBG size. It had a lovely pink based bill, however the primaries appeared a bit too dusky for my liking, especially as it flew. It continued on North.
I'm quite sure that it was a hybrid of some kind- probably a Glaucous x Herring type, generally known as a Nelson's Gull. Interesting bird and well worth looking out for. 
2 Whimbrel were at the point and a steady passage of hirundines all morning. 
A very poor iPhone scoped picture if the Long-tailed Duck .