When I first saw this, I was intrigued myself and suspected its likely to have been blown in or something from further afield. The information you've provided is very enlightening and it reminded me years ago, on the 8th April 2016, I spent the day at Marshside, and I saw there on the old sand works area a number of meadow pipits, and one caught my attention because he was orange in colour. Never saw one like it before, never saw one like it since, though perhaps very very mildly orange on the odd bird.
I knew at that time that this was likely down to the food he eats, as working within a bird environment for over 17 years, and with owning various types of canaries, I had good a understanding on how their diet can affect their looks in colour tones and tints, but never considered looking into it any further because of the amount of digging and research that would be involved with this.
So yeah, many thanks and I will certainly welcome any further input that others may know about this.
-- Edited by Richard Thew on Tuesday 9th of February 2021 02:19:32 PM
Rob Creek said
Tue Feb 9 1:00 PM, 2021
With ref to Richard Thews sighting at Elton Res.
Hi Richard, Ive seen a couple of pinkish toned Black-headed Gulls before now, one at Sale WP and one at Redgate Recycling but neither quite as pink as this one. I didnt think much of it when I saw the first one and I merely put it down to feather staining from foraging on a rubbish tip etc. When you see plenty of Gulls (obviously nowhere near as many as the more experienced Gullers in the county) you see a lot of colour stains from what I suspect is paint, dyes, food additives, and so on, where the Gulls have been rummaging around for food in a refuse yard. But when I delved a bit deeper and remember reading at the time that although its not something you see everyday, it is actually not too uncommon in Black-headed Gulls and probably due to diet, in all likelihood Shrimp, certain species of which are now fairly widespread in the UK.
What I didnt know at the time though is that it can also be seen in other species of Gull too, mainly the smaller hooded Gulls including Slender-billed, Franklins, Laughing, Mediterranean and Little Gulls. This makes sense as Slender-billed Gulls are usually seen on salt pans on the continent and for eg Cyprus and Southern Spain where they feed alongside Flamingo species. Rosss Gull we already know exhibits a pale blush to the underparts.
What was also interesting is that Ring-billed Gulls in southern USA have been seen showing this pinky wash, whereas Common Gulls (not sure where) have been noted showing a yellowy apricot tinge but not seen to show the pink, so I dont know what it is that they are eating then!
-- Edited by Rob Creek on Tuesday 9th of February 2021 01:05:22 PM
When I first saw this, I was intrigued myself and suspected its likely to have been blown in or something from further afield. The information you've provided is very enlightening and it reminded me years ago, on the 8th April 2016, I spent the day at Marshside, and I saw there on the old sand works area a number of meadow pipits, and one caught my attention because he was orange in colour. Never saw one like it before, never saw one like it since, though perhaps very very mildly orange on the odd bird.
I knew at that time that this was likely down to the food he eats, as working within a bird environment for over 17 years, and with owning various types of canaries, I had good a understanding on how their diet can affect their looks in colour tones and tints, but never considered looking into it any further because of the amount of digging and research that would be involved with this.
So yeah, many thanks and I will certainly welcome any further input that others may know about this.
-- Edited by Richard Thew on Tuesday 9th of February 2021 02:19:32 PM
Hi Richard,
Ive seen a couple of pinkish toned Black-headed Gulls before now, one at Sale WP and one at Redgate Recycling but neither quite as pink as this one. I didnt think much of it when I saw the first one and I merely put it down to feather staining from foraging on a rubbish tip etc. When you see plenty of Gulls (obviously nowhere near as many as the more experienced Gullers in the county) you see a lot of colour stains from what I suspect is paint, dyes, food additives, and so on, where the Gulls have been rummaging around for food in a refuse yard.
But when I delved a bit deeper and remember reading at the time that although its not something you see everyday, it is actually not too uncommon in Black-headed Gulls and probably due to diet, in all likelihood Shrimp, certain species of which are now fairly widespread in the UK.
What I didnt know at the time though is that it can also be seen in other species of Gull too, mainly the smaller hooded Gulls including Slender-billed, Franklins, Laughing, Mediterranean and Little Gulls.
This makes sense as Slender-billed Gulls are usually seen on salt pans on the continent and for eg Cyprus and Southern Spain where they feed alongside Flamingo species. Rosss Gull we already know exhibits a pale blush to the underparts.
What was also interesting is that Ring-billed Gulls in southern USA have been seen showing this pinky wash, whereas Common Gulls (not sure where) have been noted showing a yellowy apricot tinge but not seen to show the pink, so I dont know what it is that they are eating then!
-- Edited by Rob Creek on Tuesday 9th of February 2021 01:05:22 PM