Larus cachinnans
(last update:
Greg Neubauer
Marcin Przymencki
Albert de Jong
Mars Muusse
cachinnans plumages
Larus heuglini barabensis adult, July 13 2012, Karasuk, Novosibirskaya Oblast, Western Siberia, Russia. Picture: Sergey Pisarevskiy.
Karasuk, between Omsk and Novosibirsk holds many fresh water lakes and should be considered breeding area for barabensis. This is near the location where Panov and Monzikov did their research.
P1 fully grown, P2 growing, P3 missing, P4-P10 still old. Compact bird. Phenotypically close to barabensis. Normally, barabensis from the heartland show:
- upperparts darker than in cachinnans, more towards taimyrensis,
- black on P10-P4 or even P10-P3,
- compact birds, with shorter legs than cachinnans, more 'dove-like', as armenicus can be,
- 4-coloured bill with black bill-band also in summer on most birds and a white transluscent tip,
- bill short and stubby with obvious gonydeal angle,
- speckled, dark iris, although sometimes pale yellow,
- obvious white tongue on P10 down to about only 1/2 of the length of P10, so still much black in the primary,
- very saturated yellow legs, and other bare parts saturated as well.
Note black on P10, P9 and P8 reaching to primary coverts; moreover, even P7 has black almost reaching the primary coverts on the outerweb.
