How large is a Caspian tern?

What time of year do Caspian terns breed?

Caspian Tern Breeding In the Cape of South Africa, the Caspian tern breed in December and January. The nest is a shallow scrape in sand, gravel, soil or pebbles and lined with scraps. The female lay two rough-textured greenish eggs marked with a few dark purple splotches.

What is the largest Caspian bird in the world?

Caspian Tern – The Caspian is the largest of these bird species in the world, at an impressive 18 – 21 in. long. Like many Terns, this species breeds in large colonies. In fact, one colony on the Columbia River hosts 12,000 adult Caspians every year!

When do Caspian terns migrate?

In the UK, Isle of Man, and Ireland, the Caspian Tern is a very rare migrant with around five records per year on average. It is most likely to occur from May to September. The conservation status for this species is “Amber’ in the UK because it is a species of concern in Europe.

How much does a Caspian bird weigh?

Caspians can range up to 782 g (1.724 lb) in weight, with a 1.4 m (4.6 ft) wingspan and a length of 0.6 m (2.0 ft). The largest extant alcid is the sub-Arctic thick-billed murre ( Uria lomvia ), which can weigh up to 1.48 kg (3.3 lb), with a length of 0.48 m (1.6 ft) and a wingspan of 0.76 m (2.5 ft).

What does a Caspian gull look like?

Adult Caspian Gull is sometimes reminiscent a huge Common Gull, due to the soft grey of the mantle, long black primaries, dark eye and gentle expression, although the dull yellow bill is more substantial and has the red gonys spot typical of large white-headed gulls.

What is the lifespan of a Caspian tern?

The oldest recorded Caspian Tern was at least 32 years, 1 month old when it was found in Illinois in 2018. It had been banded in Michigan in 1986. The average life span of Caspian Terns from the Great Lakes is estimated to be 12 years.

What is another name for the Caspian gull?

Various names have been used for these birds, including Steppe Gull and Pontic Gull, but since Lars Jonsson’s paper in Alula, Volume 4 3/98 “Yellow-legged Gulls and yellow-legged Herring Gulls in the Baltic” in which he presented reasoned arguments against the use of these names, the name Caspian Gull has gained widespread acceptance.

How can you tell if a Caspian gull is real?

As well as misidentifying other species as Caspian Gulls, you can also be put off perfectly good Caspian Gulls because a 1st-winter has patterned greater coverts, or heavily marked scapulars or even a dark underwing. Birds of any age may have a shortish bill, or stout legs or an adult may have a pale eye.

When was the Caspian gull added to the British list?

Caspian Gull was added to category A of the British List on 29 May 2003 following the acceptance of a bird seen at Mucking, Essex on 4 September 1995.

What kind of bird is a Caspian gull?

Caspian Gull is a name applied to the gull taxon Larus (argentatus) cachinnans, a member of the Herring Gull / Lesser Black-backed Gull complex. It is a large gull (59–67 cm, 680–1330 g) with a long, slender bill, accentuated by the sloping forehead.

What does a first-winter Caspian gull look like?

In common with adult Caspian Gull, first-winter birds usually show limited head-streaking, being very white on the forehead, crown, cheeks, throat and upper breast. The lower breast belly and flanks are more smudged with greyish brown markings but are still predominantly white.

What is the difference between a herring and Caspian gull?

Caspian Gull is a large gull but slender in its proportions. Compared to a Herring Gull (typical bird of the British race argenteus), it is of similar size or slightly larger (some males very large) but appears longer winged, longer necked, longer legged and longer billed.

What does Caspian gull stand for?

The Caspian gull ( Larus cachinnans) is a large gull and a member of the herring and lesser black-backed gull complex. The scientific name is from Latin. Larus appears to have referred to a gull or other large seabird, and cachinnans means “laughing”, from cachinnare, “to laugh”.

What do you look for in a gull?

White underwing and axillaries – really concentrate when the wings are raised! (white underwings in older birds are less relevant) A pale panel on the inner primaries caused by pale, translucent inner webs, more obvious than Yellow-legged Gull.

What does a Caspian Bill look like?

1st-winter, 25th February 2002: This huge bird, almost certainly a male, demonstrates a caricature of a typical Caspian bill. It also shows the white head nestled in a shawl, perfect greater coverts bordered by two parallel white lines and thumbnail tertials.

What is a Caspian gull?

This article describes the identification of Caspian Gull, a bird that occurs regularly at inland rubbish tips and gull roosts, but is perhaps under-recorded due to limited awareness of identification criteria.

Where to see Caspian gulls in Southwold?

Further north the Blyth Estuary and Minsmere RSPB, Suffolk, routinely attract Caspian Gulls from late summer and occasionally showy individuals may appear at the River Blyth mouth just south of Southwold. The pig fields of the Breckland are also productive and the roost at Livermere Lake routinely attracts birds.

Are there any Caspian gulls in Berkshire?

There have been several records in Berkshire since the late 1990s. Favoured UK sites where birds have been seen in several years include the Blyth estuary in Suffolk, Milton and Godmanchester tips in Cambridgeshire, Dungeness in Kent, and various sites along the Thames. Caspian Gull is a large gull but slender in its proportions.

Is the Caspian gull Larus cachinnans a British bird?

Our perception of the Caspian Gull Larus cachinnans as a British bird has changed dramatically in the past 20 years. It has gone from being a poorly known, southeastern race of Herring Gull L. argentatus (Grant 1986) to being recognised as a valid species (Leibers et al. 2001; Collinson et al. 2008) that regularly occurs in Britain.

What is the structure of a Caspian gull?

Classic structure: long exposed tibia, high breasted, elongated rear end, snouty head. Caspian Gulls can be strikingly large, tall birds, but most individuals are similar in length and weight to Herring Gull and so do not stand out on size alone. However, cachinnans is structurally distinctive at all ages, often described as ‘lanky’ or ‘gangly’.

What kind of mirror does a Caspian gull have?

An adult Caspian Gull has large white mirrors on P10 and P9, although the P10 mirror usually merges with the white feather tip to give an extensive white tip several centimetres in length; if not merged, the black between the white of tip and mirror is a very narrow bar.

What is the color of a Caspian gull’s eye?

The orbital ring of bare skin around the eye is red or reddish-orange in cachinnans, as for michahellis, rather than yellow to orange in Herring Gull. Caspian Gulls have a long gape line extending horizontally to almost below the front edge of the eye, and the edge of the gape may be visibly reddish.

What is the difference between Caspian gull and common gull?

Adult Caspian Gull is sometimes reminiscent a huge Common Gull, due to the soft grey of the mantle, long black primaries, dark eye and gentle expression, although the dull yellow bill is more substantial and has the red gonys spot typical of large white-headed gulls.

What is The wingspan of a European herring gull?

The male European herring gull is 60–67 cm (24–26 in) long and weighs 1,050–1,525 g (2.315–3.362 lb), while the female is 55–62 cm (22–24 in) and weighs 710–1,100 g (1.57–2.43 lb). The wingspan can range from 125 to 155 cm (49 to 61 in). Among standard measurements, the wing chord is 38 to 48 cm (15 to 19 in),…

What is the difference between Herring and ring-billed gulls?

Adult European herring gulls are similar to ring-billed gulls, but are much larger, have pinkish legs, and a much thicker yellow bill with more pronounced gonys.

Where to find a Sabine’s gull in South Yorkshire?

Sunday 27th. Waveney Area – A juvenile SABINE’S GULL was found on the shore pools at Kessingland at 12:02hrs where it remained until 13:20hrs then flew inland (West), also 7 Lapland Bunting & a single Snow Bunting on the beach there (photo Chris Darby).