Armenian Gull ~ Jisr az-Zarqa, Israel - Nov' 15

Sunday, 13 December 2015

A long weekend trip to observe and photograph Armenian Gull - Larus armenicus on there wintering grounds in Israel was always on the cards and when finding cheap flight prices it was booked ...

Armenian Gull ~ Larus armenicus ~ Adult winter

The hotel was Juha's Guesthouse in Jisr az-Zarqa located off the main road 4 and then turn off on to 6531, this was the closest hotel to Ma'agan Michael where we hoped to see armenicus this backfired as the beach was devoid of gulls and the fish ponds were jam packed with birds problem was that they weren't gulls !!

A morning searching various locations North of Ma'agan Michael  failed to find the target species so returned back to Jisr az-Zarqa trying the beach at the end of the road next to the hotel, more by luck than judgement it was where the gulls were roosting and spent 3 days at this location ...

Armenian were the common species c.400, with the best count of 32 for Pallas's and the other species present were Steppe, Slender-billed and Black-headed ...

Armenian is closely related to Yellow-legged Gull but due to its range and structural differences its treated as a separate species ..


1st. winter




































2nd. Winter













3rd. Winter












Adult Winter




















Most adults only had a mirror to P10

A small percentage showed on P9 also








 3rd. w ~~~~ 1st. w ~~~~ Ad. w  


1st. w ~~~~ 2nd. w ~~~~ Ad.w


Another great long week trip which I would like to repeat again ... 

1 comment:

Roos said...

Lots of beautyful Armenian Gulls. And great you found them there on the beach. The photos are outstanding.
Regards,
Roos