almerimartoday

The latest article from  John Witham about birdwatching is called:

On the beach.

Read More to read the article.

Whilst barbequing with friends on the beach last week I was pleased to see so many different types of sea birds, particularly the gulls and terns. Most people refer to gulls as seagulls though strictly speaking there is no such classification as a seagull. Indeed, back home in Nottingham, some 90 miles from the nearest shoreline, we have thousands of gulls scavenging at landfill sites where the pickings are easier than on the coast.

I believe that most people would recognise a gull albeit not necessarily the type of gull they were looking at. The popular image we have of gulls is that they are large white birds that soar in the sky, make a lot of noise and can be quite quarrelsome. To be fair they are not easy to tell apart unless you have a ‘spotters’ book, a pair of binoculars and a lot of patience.

There are over a dozen different types of gull in Europe and most of them visit Almeria at some time of the year. I will show you a few of the more obvious ones and the pictures show them in their summer plumage. They can look quite different in the winter.

Lesser Black-backed Gulls	Herring Gull

These can be differentiated by the colour of their legs and the Herring Gull is usually a little larger.

Sabine’s Gull	Black-headed Gull

The black heads are only ‘worn’ in summer. Sabine’s have black legs whilst the Black-headed has red legs

Immature Common Gull	Audouin’s Gulls with Lesser Black-backed

The Arctic Tern spends summer (our winter) in the Antarctic Circle and breeds  along the Arctic coasts during our summers passing only briefly through southern Europe. You are unlikely to see this bird, which can spend up to two years in the air eating and sleeping without landing until it becomes of breeding age.

Sandwich Terns

Other very similar terns also live in the southern hemisphere during our winter and return to breed in Europe during the summer. Currently resident in this area are the Common Tern, Little Tern and the Sandwich Tern, which I saw whilst on the beach last week. All of these birds fly many thousands of miles every year and it has been calculated that, in migratory travel alone, an Arctic Tern would fly the equivalent of a trip to the moon and back during its’ 25 years typical lifespan; and no doubt with a lot less hassle than we have flying between the UK and Almeria Airport during the winter!