Monday, January 26, 2009 - GLAUCOUS AND HERRING GULLS AT ARRECIFE (LANZAROTE)
by Francisco Javier García Vargas
On 26/I I could observe a beautiful adult Glaucous Gull at Arrecife. The bird was roosting into a big flock of Yellow-legged and Lesser Black-backed Gulls on a reef at about 200 meters from where I was. The distance, the strong wind and my clumsiness with digiscoping (it´s not made for me!!!) made me only get these horrific pics. I´m going to try to relocate this superb bird to take better photos of it. It is a first for our personal list of birds observed in Lanzarote. There is only a previous record (not submitted) of Glaucous Gull at Lanzarote, so it will be (if accepted) the second record for the island.
Very close to the Glaucous Gull, I could detect an adult Herring Gull, a vagrant to the Canary Islands with only a few records. This is another first for our list and the first record for Lanzarote too.
JANUARY 2009: A GOOD MONTH FOR GULLS IN LANZAROTE
by Francisco Javier García Vargas and Juan Sagardía Pradera
Besides the Glaucous and the Herring Gulls, some interesting observations on gulls have been made at Lanzarote on January 2009.
The Mediterranean Gulls (at least 5 birds) have been all winter at Arrecife. 2 birds are ringed, one with a red ring (we could not read it yet) and the other with a green ring with the white chapters "1X5". This is the history of the bird:
1X5 Left pullus Paris FS63212 03/07/2008 Barbâtre, Polder de Sebastopol, Vendée, FRANCE 46,56N 2,09W
ringed by team Matthieu Vaslin
vv 17/01/2009 1X5 Arrecife, Lanzarote Canary Islands, SPAIN 28,57N 13,33W Sagardia Pradera, Juan
On 09/I, a first-winter Ring-billed Gull was seen at Arrecife (F. J. García Vargas) and relocated there on 17/I by Juan Sagardía Pradera. This is only our second record of this species in Lanzarote. Details and pics of the first record can be seen here.
Finally, a spectacular flock of 9 Audouin´s Gulls was detected at Puerto del Carmen on 14/I. The birds have been moving around the east coast and for example, 2 birds were at Puerto del Carmen and 7 birds were seen at Arrecife few minutes later on 18/I.
Glaucous Gull. Arrecife. Photo: F. J. García Vargas

Glaucous Gull. Arrecife. Photo: F. J. García Vargas

Glaucous Gull. Arrecife. Photo: F. J. García Vargas

Glaucous Gull. Arrecife. Photo: F. J. García Vargas

Glaucous Gull. Arrecife. Photo: F. J. García Vargas

Glaucous Gull. Arrecife. Photo: F. J. García Vargas

Herring Gull (with Glaucous Gull and Yellow-legged Gull). Arrecife. Photo: F. J. García Vargas
Mediterranean Gull. Arrecife. Photo: J. Sagardía
Mediterranean Gull. Arrecife. Photo: F. J. García Vargas
Audouin´s Gull. Puerto del Carmen. Photo: F. J. García Vargas
Audouin´s Gull. Puerto del Carmen. Photo: F. J. García Vargas

Audouin´s Gull. Puerto del Carmen. Photo: F. J. García Vargas

Audouin´s Gull. Puerto del Carmen. Photo: J. Sagardía
Audouin´s Gull. Arrecife. Photo: J. Sagardía
Ring-billed Gull. Arrecife. Photo: F. J. García Vargas
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