Larus cachinnans in Poland

(last update: August 01, 2021)

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cachinnans in Poland

National distribution

Zastów Karczmiski
Kępa Nadbrzeska
Jeziórko
Jankowice
Mietków Reservoir & Chwałów
Kozielno & Topola Reservoir
Mokrzec
Wytyckie Lake
Dankowice / Foskowiec Pond
Czorsztyn Reservoir
Kuźnica Warężyńska / Pogoria
Dwory

small colonies or single sites

Caspian Gull cachinnans: Wytyckie Lake

Wytyckie Lake: 51°25'48.9"N 23°13'41.0"E.

Breeding species:

• Larus cachinnans
• (Larus argentatus)
• Larus michahellis

Coordinator:

• Łukasz Bednarz
  For questions mail to: drahma1@o2.pl

Annual numbers:

Habitat:

The colony is located at the Wytyckie Lake, in eastern part of Poland (Lubelskie voivodeship), in Polesie National Park. Gulls nest here on a natural island covered by grass and trees.

With a population of over 350.000 people, Lublin is one of the larger cities in eastern Poland close to both the Ukrain and the Belarus border. 50 km's to northeast of Lublin, close to the town of Urszulin, is a large lake called "Wytyckie" (in Polish: Jezioro Wytyckie), size about 1700 x 3700 meters. Originally a natural lake, then artificially magnified and embanked with a dyke. It is dotted with small islands and fringed with reedbeds, and this location holds good numbers of Larus cachinnans, about 150 breeding pairs in 2012.
Polish ringer and illustrator Łukasz Bednarz has spent much time in the breeding season between April and July to do ringing projects and field research.

The map below illustrates the ringing activities in eastern Poland for year 2012 (courtesy Łukasz Bednarz). It is clear most time and energy was spend on ringing birds in the colony of lake Wytyckie.

Wytyckie Lake

In breeding season 2012, many Larus cachinnans were ringed at location Wytyckie Lake, near Urszulin. In total the ringing team ringed 59 adults "large white-headed gulls" (most cachinnans) and 160 pulli.
From these birds, we have received a total of 143 reports of recoveries, including 31 foreign recoveries. For most of the birds, the main migrating direction was westwards, although a few birds were seen in Sweden and Italy (and even south of Rome, which is a good 1241 km from the native colony in Wytyckie Lake.

Few images to illustrate Wytyckie Lake and the nesting situation on the island in the lake: small wooded islands where the chicks can hide in the vegetation. Pictures: Łukasz Bednarz ringing team. (click images to view larger sizes)

Among the birds travelling the largest distance, were 1st winter birds flying to the south of the English Channel in NW France, which is a mere 1451 km from the ringing place. Other young birds were seen in Belgium (still a good 1325 km) and in the Netherlands (1217 km) from the ringing location.

See map below (blue pointers are birds ringed in Zastów Karczmiski, yellow pointers for birds from Lake Wytyckie):

It is always nice to get reports from distant locations, far abroad (the countries mentioned above, but also Sweden, Croatia, Hungary, the Czech Republic and Slovakia); but bulk of the ringed birds spend the winter in western Poland and in Germany. Of all the birds observed in Poland, most ring reading reports come from The Witoszówka (Lower Silesia), as well as from the surroundings of Poznań and Bydgoszcz. A few birds were seen also on the Polish coast of the Baltic Sea. Anyone looking for ringed birds especially, should check among the many gulls that feed on landfills in winter. The Uskok's Group is a group checking gulls regularly, they took control and worked mostly on the joints in Siemieniu, in Stoczek near Czemiernik in the Valley of the Tyśmienicy, as well as on the Vistula River.

Ready to be processed. (picture: Pawel Kołodziejczyk)	Ringing and measuring. (picture: Pawel Kołodziejczyk)
Paddling home after ringing. (picture: Pawel Kołodziejczyk)	Fresh juveniles, just before leaving the colony at Wytyckie Lake. Can you spot a green ring? (picture: Łukasz Bednarz)

The default birds breeding at Wytyckie Lake are cachinnans, but some breeding birds belong to either michahellis or argentatus (or hybrid offspring of these two). Mixed breeding has been recorded and documented in much detail for the Vistula river valley, and this may be the origin for argentatus (and michahellis) found in Wytyckie as well. There is at least some exchange between Wytyckie and Zastów, as illustrated by 1P34.

Below we show a thumbnail selection of some 10's of birds ringed at Wytyckie Lake.
The complete set of breeding birds ringed by Łukasz Bednarz ringing team in 2014 (100+ birds) are at THIS PAGE.