Hi,

Simon Wates informed me about a 1 st Winter Glaucous Gull (Larus hyperboreus) wich he observed at the Doca de Porta Pesca in Portimão on Friday, 11 th Jan 2008 and again on the next day. The bird is probably
still there, but I don´nt have any further update so far.

Best wishes / abraço / Viele Grüsse

Georg

Hello Georg,

Roger Skan (who was with Simon the day the bird was found) and I have spent some time today trying to re-locate this gull, but with no success. Roger has posted a report to SPEA's "Noticiario" together with a convincing digiscoped photograph.

Given the huge numbers of gulls (5-8,000?) in the Arade, Ria de Alvor and Portimao harbour areas it will not be an easy task to find this individual.

Cheers,

Colin



*Photo by Roger Skan 12 Jan 2008

P.S. Simon, Roger has given me the "whole story" - very well done for spotting and tracking this bird

hello Colin,

I friend of mine saw the bird for the last 3 days, also had the bird at a few meters from him (he was feeding the gulls with bread).

Last year i also saw a Larus hyperboreus there in winter time, saw it a few times during 2 weeks. that bird was always on the same spot.
Maybe this also find is own spot.

best time to be there on the fishing harbor is when the tide is high. I know it because i do a lot of ring reading over there.

best regards

Thijs

Thanks for that info Thijs, I am just about to go back there this morning armed with camera and a loaf of bread!

Colin

Hi all,

we found the bird again on Tuesday, the 15 th just before dusk (17.30) perched on top of the main building ("Docapesca") at the fishing harbour, after looking for it during the morning without any success.
Sorry for posting this that late. Great to see a good picture of this stunning bird !
(Observers: Peter Dedicoat, June Taylor, Ray Tipper, Simon Wates, Georg Schreier)

Regards,
Georg

( take 125 direction Faro when coming from Portimão and look for "Ferraguado" - if I remember it right)

I had a text message from Simon that he had re-located the bird yesterday (30th Jan) in the afternoon at the same locality.

Colin

I've seen probably the same bird flying from Portimão to the Doca Pesca on Feb 10th.

See more info at:

http://my.opera.com/Arade/blog/larus-hyperboreus-in-arade-estuary

I've seen with Luís Campina, the same bird on March 15th on Docapesca

Lá que o bicho é enorme, é!

Mas não tem a projecção das primárias um bocado longa demais?

Nos adultos a projecção das primárias pouco utrapassa o comprimento da cauda, no entanto em alguns juvs./1.ºano, as primárias podem ser notoriamente maiores do que a cauda, mas nunca tão grandes como no Larus glaucoides. Salvo melhor opinião, é o que me parece!

A ave estava na Docapesca de Portimão no dia 23 de Março.