Yellow-legged Gulls

The past winter once again brought a handfull of new Yellow-legged records for Limerick with four birds recorded, slighty up on last winter's haul of three individuals and including at least two new birds to the area.  First up was a 2nd winter bird at Thomond Weir in Limerick City on 31/12/2017, the eight record for the County.  For a bird about to enter its third calendar year it had advanced plumage on much of the scapulars, tertials, lesser and median coverts as well as a few all white tail feathers.  It also had a distinct yellow tone on its legs.

Advanced 2nd winter Yellow-legged Gull

A week later on 6/1/2018 another 2nd winter bird turned up at O'Callaghan's Strand in the City.  This bird however had noticeably less advanced plumage on the lesser and median coverts than the new bird found the previous week.  Interestingly it looked like and behaved very like the 1st winter bird that frequented the same area a year earlier.  It was relatively tame as big gulls go and was still exhibiting the same begging posture and calls as the previous year's bird.

Returning 2nd Winter Yellow-legged Gull.

Next up was a 1st winter bird again at O'Callaghan's Strand on 17/2/18, a ninth record for the County.

1st winter Yellow-legged Gull

Finally I found an adult bird frequenting the area between Corbally Weir, on the northern edge of the City, and the Athlunkard area on the Co. Clare side of the River Shannon on 13/1/2018.  Once again this bird's habits were very similar to the 3rd winter bird that I found in the same area a year previously.

Adult Yellow-legged Gull

Caspian Gull

Life ticks don't come along too often, especially out of the migration season, so it's a nice surprise when one turns up on your doorstep.  So it was with the second winter Caspian Gull that Geoff Hunt came across at O'Callaghan's Strand on 15/1/2017.  I had previously seen what was initially thought to be a second winter Caspian Gull in Tallaght in March 2014, however this bird is now considered to be a hybrid of some form.

This bird is a first record for Limerick and with 13 previously accepted records in Ireland it is potentially the 14th for the Country.  It also seems to be the first record of this plumage phase in Ireland as well.

Mediterranean Gull

With the short days and poor weather recently opportunities to get out and take some photos have been fairly limited.  Today (December 22nd) was exception so I got an chance to see if the recent storms had deposited anything new locally in Limerick City.  I picked up a first winter Mediterranean Gull on the pond at Healy's Field in Corbally.  This site attracts small numbers of roosting gulls and on occasions can also have a  a range of waterfowl. Several Shoveler, Mallard, Coot and smaller numbers of Tufted Duck, Mute Swans and Little Grebes were also present.   A Chiffchaff feeding in the willows at the edge of the marsh was a nice additional extra.

First winter Mediterranean Gull

Shoveler

 

Mallard

There were good numbers of Herring Gulls, mostly juveniles and sub-adults, and smaller numbers of Lesser Black-backed Gulls along the Shannon between Thomond Weir and O'Callaghan's Strand but no signs of any white-winged gulls.  As expected the annually returning Ring-billed Gull showed up at the latter site.

Adult Ring-billed Gull