Gulls in central Russia
(last update: January 2015)
Grzegorz Neubauer (Poland)
Sasha Esergepov (Russia)
Ringing project - species information.
Gulls have been ringed at six location in central Russia, roughly in the triangle Moscow-Kazan-Saratov. There is no detailed understanding of the gulls that breed here, and distribution maps of large whiteheaded gulls do not include this area. The triangle is surrounded by various species: heuglini & taimyrensis in the north, barabensis in the east, cachinnans in the south and argentatus & fuscus in the west.
The general classification of gulls in Asia is summarized below in two illustrations, reproduced from "The Herring Gull Complex (Larus argentatus -
fuscus - cachinnans) as a Model Group for
Recent Holarctic Vertebrate Radiations", 2010, by Dorit Liebers-Helbig, Viviane Sternkopf, Andreas J. Helbig,
and Peter de Knijff. Click for FULL PDF.
In the second figure is an arrow from cachinnans northwards into the tundra for heuglini, which illustrate the colonisation from the cachinnans refugium. Right halfwat this arrow is the "Greg region".
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| Fig. 3 Breeding ranges and sampling locations (dots) of the gull taxa investigated. For reasons of clarity, extensively overlapping ranges are shown on different maps, e.g., for L. argentatus in Fig. 8 and for L. marinus, and L. hyperboreus in Fig. 9. Ranges of L. occidentalis and L. dominicanus are not shown. | Fig. 5 Alternative model of the colonization history of the herring gull complex based on the mitochondrial DNA-sequences. Two ancient refugia are inferred (pale green and pale orange oval). Current ranges of taxa derived from Atlantic refugium are shown in green, those derived from Aralo-Caspian refugium are in orange, checker-board pattern shows areas of overlap. No invasion of herring gulls from North America to Europe occurred. L. marinus developed reproductive isolation in allopatry (probably in north-eastern North America) before making secondary contact with North American smithsonianus and Eurasian argentatus/fuscus. Two separate colonization events from the Atlantic into the Mediterranean led to the differentiation of armenicus and, much later, michahellis. Arrows as in Fig. 2. |
From the illustrations above it is clear that the steppe zone in Omsk Oblast nowadays holds barabensis, which in turn has colonised this area from the tundra, moving southwards from heuglini breeding area. Theoretically there should be some similarity between these species and in fact that was exactly what was found in DNA analyses.
The question for the Greg region remains: "how was this area colonised?".
Is this an ancient group that occupied the region while other gulls moved further north to become nowadays heuglini?
Or maybe the area has been left abondoned for a long time and, just as birds made a later movement southwards to form barabensis, this was also done by heuglini colonising the Greg region (and therefore this is a young group of birds)?
Or is it cachinnans which makes a new, second move northwards more recently to fill this blank area?
Another interesting hypothesis could be: After heuglini colonised Omsk to form barabensis, did that process really stop, or do we see an ongoing colonisation, now by barabensis until it meets cachinnans (which may be the case in central Kazakhstan as well)?
Phenotypics of the gulls in central Russia.
There is another, maybe less relevant but still intriguing question related to these gulls: Is it possible to identify birds from this colony when recorded in the field? Phenotypics and plumage development of some similar looking Asian and European gull taxa are shown below to get an idea of the main pitfalls.
| Herring Gull argentatus In figure 5 (above) the chequered green-yellow area represents the breeding distribution for Baltic Herring Gull argentatus which live closest to the central Russian birds in the Greg region. Phenotypics for these birds are slightly different from West European argenteus or North Scandinavian argentatus. In the Baltic it is more common to find red orbital ring, deep yellow bill and legs in combination with a full band on P5. This combination is also seen in several of the birds photographed by Grzegorz Neubauer at the colony of Cheboksarskye Vdhr (Reservoir), Chuvash Republic. There is also some similarity in breeding habitat; Mierauskas et al. (1991) describe yellow-legged Herring Gulls 'omissus' breeding in Latvian peat bog area, similar to the habitat at locations Bolshoye Boloto, Ivanovo Oblast and Sitniki, Nizjni Novgorod Oblast. See for details Lars Jonsson's article. Phenotypics for Baltic argentatus: - P10 normally has a large mirror, merged with the white tip forming a complete large white tip without subterminal black. However, many birds have some small black spots on the edges of outer and innerweb and complete black bands occur as well (maybe more commonly in younger adults?). Picture 04 of yellow CA56L illustrate this complete band. The pale tongue on the underside of P10 is variable too, with most birds showing a medium to long tongue which gradually reaches the innerweb's edge in a wedge shape (pointed at the end). This long tongue may even break through the medial band, creating a thayeri pattern. A small number of birds have a short tongue on P10 and Baltic birds may also show a rectangular tongue shape, due to an almost square end. - P9 mirror is normally present on both webs. - P5 subterminal black often reduced to an isolated well-defined spot on the outerweb. Black on the innerweb, when present, normally reduced to a clear line which is much thinner than black on the outerweb of P5 (see figure 03 below). A broad black subterminal line is the norm in michahellis (see figure 06) which may also show black on P4 (very uncommon in argentatus). - Bare parts can be really saturated yellow in Baltic birds. Red orbital ring common (yellow or orangey in West European argenteus). - Upperparts pale slate grey, Kodak 6. |
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01. argentatus adult, April 27 2008, Tampere, Finland (61°29'N, 23°48'E). Picture: Visa Rauste. Saturated yellow legs and bare parts. Extensive white in wingtip (mirror merges with tip in P10, large mirror on P9 and no black on P5). Coral red orbital ring, red bleeding on upper mandible and intense yellow bill. |
02. argentatus 9L9B adult, March 18 2014, Zabieliškis - Kaunas, Lithuania 54°54'N, 23°54'E). Picture: Boris Belchev. P10 mirror merged with tip, red orbital ring, yellowish legs. Bird from Lithuanian. |
03. argentatus adult, April 10 2014, Pori, Finland (61°29'N, 21°48'E). Picture: Petteri Mäkelä. Yellow legs. Red orbital ring. Mirror merged with tip and short pale tongue on P10. Medium mirror on P9, full black band on P5. |
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| 04. argentatus CA56L adult, April 04 2014, Pori, Finland (61°29'N, 21°48'E). Picture: Petteri Mäkelä. Yellow legs. Full band and short pale tongue on P10, large mirror on P9, black spot on P5). Coral red orbital ring, red bleeding on upper mandible and intense yellow bill. Bird from Finland. | 05. argentatus adult,April 10 2014, Pori, Finland (61°29'N, 21°48'E). Picture: Petteri Mäkelä. Saturated yellow legs and bare parts. Extensive white in wingtip (mirror merges with tip in P10, large mirror on P9 (broken subterminal band on P9) and diffuse band on P5). Deep pale tongue on P8. Red orbital ring. |
06. michahellis adult, January 02 2011, Mamaia, Romania (44°15'N, 28°37'E). Picture: Chris Gibbins. Included for the yellow legs and more black in wingtip than in argentatus. Eastern michahellis: medium pale tongue on P10 (and square angle), no band on P10 and broad band on P5; even some black on P4. Especially birds like this Russian adult can be confusingly similar to michahellis. |
| Heuglin's Gull heuglini Figure 5 above indicates the breeding range of heuglini, which is a tundra species in North Russia. It's a long distance migrant into the Middle East and shores of the Arabic peninsular east to Goa, India. Majority of the birds make an annual cross over Greg region in fall and spring, and it is unknown how many immature, non-breeding individuals may remain in that region to spend the summer and complete their moult. Heuglini is a member of the fuscus group, rather than the argentatus group, with dark slate grey upperparts and limited white in the wingtip. As a tundra species it is a late breeding, and therefore late hatching taxon. It has a late moult; adults commonly replace the outer primaries P9-P10 by January-February on the wintering grounds. Within the Greg region, some birds appear as dark on the upperparts as average heuglini combined with less white and much black in the wingtip. One would expect to find such birds in one of the northern ringing sites in central Russia, like the colony of Cheboksarskye Vdhr (Reservoir), Chuvash Republic. Interestingly, it's the most southern of investigated locations, the colony at Selitba Lake, where pictures show dark mantled birds. Phenotypics for heuglini, as per Buzun (2001) and Rauste (1999): - P10 has extensive black and a white mirror (often with diffuse grey borders) covering both webs. Like cachinnans, it has a white or off-white short tongue (base of the primaries). A broad subterminal band on P10 is the norm; only few birds have this band broken at the shaft. Like in Lesser Black-backed Gull graellsii, full adult birds may still show well demarcated black centres on the greater primary coverts. - P9 has a small in 1/3rd of the birds, but normally this P9 mirror is absent. - P5 has a full band in heuglini. Only 5% of the birds have black on P10-P5, all other birds have 7 or 8 primaries with subterminal black. - Bare parts in heuglini are vivid yellow in breeding season, with a coral red orbital ring and varaible degree of iris speckling (some birds have all dark eyes). Red is normally restricted to the lower mandible. Black markings on the bill are not uncommon in breeding adult birds. - Upperparts are Kodak 8-11, overlapping with West European Lesser Black-backed Gull graellsii. |
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01 heuglini adult, April 01 2011, Ashdod, Israel (31°51'N, 34°42'E). Picture: Amir Ben Dov. Resting birds often long-necked (like in cachinnans) and with fine droopy bill. Upperparts obviously dark slate grey. |
02 heuglini adult, April 17 2006, Tampere, Finland (61°29'N, 23°48'E). Picture: Hannu Koskinen. Every year 50+ adult birds in spring in Finland are believed to be heuglini. Medium mirror on P10, small mirror on innerweb of P9, full band on P5 and no black on P4 (which is uncommon in heuglini). | 03 heuglini adult, April 21 2006, Tampere, Finland (61°29'N, 23°48'E). Picture: Hannu Koskinen. P2-P10 with black, small mirror on P10, black on primary coverts. This could well be a younger adult (like 4CY-5CY). |
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| 04 heuglini adult, April 08 2011, Ashdod, Israel (31°51'N, 34°42'E). Picture: Amir Ben Dov. Black on P3-P10. | 05 heuglini adult, April 01 2011, Ashdod, Israel (31°51'N, 34°42'E). Picture: Amir Ben Dov. Sharply demarcated black centres to the primary coverts. Black on P3-P10. |
06 heuglini adult, April 08 2011, Ashdod, Israel (31°51'N, 34°42'E). Picture: Amir Ben Dov. Slate grey upperparts, estimated Kodak 11. Black on P10-P4. |
Taimyr Gull taimyrensis taimirusegurokamome = japanese |
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| 01 taimyrensis adult, July 2005, Pyasina, Taimyr, Russia (74°09'N, 85°36'E). Picture: Raymond Klaassen. Speckled iris, red orbital ring, deep yellow bill witrh red only on lower mandible. | 02 taimyrensis adult, July 22 2008, Bird Islands, Mys Vostochny, Taimyr, Russia (74°07'N, 86°37'E). Picture: Jim de Fouw. With obvious speckling in iris. | 03 taimyrensis adult, July 08 1991, Bird Islands, Mys Vostochny, Taimyr, Russia (74°07'N, 86°37'E). Picture: Jan van de Kam. Short legs add to heavy built appearance. Dark iris and red only on lower mandible. Legs yellowish. |
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| 04 taimyrensis adult, July 22 2008, Bird Islands, Mys Vostochny, Taimyr, Russia (74°07'N, 86°37'E). Picture: Jim de Fouw. Same birds as on 02. Broken band on P4. | 05 taimyrensis RUM DS006503 adult male, June 25 2001, Oleni isl, Medusa bay, Taimyr, Russia (72°25'N, 77°40'E). Picture: Leon Peters. Wing 465mm, Bill 55.3mm, weight 1240 gr. | taimyrensis adult, October 30 2013, Itoshima, Fukuoka, Japan. Picture: ROM. |
| Steppe Gull barabensis Phenotypics: - P10 - P9 - P5 Bare parts Upperparts |
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| barabensis adult, July 09 2011, Karasuk, Novosibirsk, Russia (53°43'N, 78°00'E). Picture: Sergey Pisarevskiy. | barabensis adult, June 12 2007, Ekaterinburg, Sverdlovsk oblast - SE Urals (56°50'N, 60°36'E). Picture: Annika Forsten & Antero Lindholm. | barabensis adult, June 18 2010, Bagan, Novosibirsk, Russia (54°06'N, 77°40'E). Picture: Tatiana Bulyonkova. |
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| barabensis adult, June 12 2007, Ekaterinburg, Sverdlovsk oblast - SE Urals (56°50'N, 60°36'E). Picture: Annika Forsten & Antero Lindholm. | barabensis adult, June 12 2007, Sverdlovsk oblast - SE Urals (56°51'N, 60°38'E). Picture: Annika Forsten & Antero Lindholm. | barabensis adult, June 12 2007, Sverdlovsk oblast - SE Urals (56°51'N, 60°38'E). Picture: Annika Forsten & Antero Lindholm. |
| Mongolian Gull mongolicus Figure 5 above depicts the breeding range for mongolicus, which is limited to a dozen ponds and lakes in inner Mongolia and the vast Baikal Lake. The area is abandoned in winter, when birds migrate about 1700 km southeast into the Yellow Sea (records of wing-tagged birds). It's a powerful heavy bird with pale grey upperparts (like Baltic argentatus). Phenotypics after Pierre Yésou (2001): - P10 varable (see figure 04-06 below), normally with large mirror on P10 and medium white tongue. - P9 normally with white mirror, which may be very small or even absent. - P5 with broad subterminal band. Usually seven (ranging from six to nine) outer primaries show black. Bare parts: the bill is yellow with a red gonydeal spot and shows variable dark markings. The iris varies from yellowish-white to dark grey-brown and the legs from pale flesh to bright orange. Upperparts are pale slate grey, Kodak 7. Large white scapular and tertial crescents and large white secondary tips are obvious. In winter this taxon remains rather white headed, without obvious streaking on head. |
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| 01 mongolicus AL69 adult, May 26-28 2013, Telmen Nuur, Mongolia (48°49'N, 97°10'E). Picture: Andreas Buchheim. Bill saturated yellow (schoolbus yellow), red gonys spot only on lower mandible not reaching to cutting edge. No black on bill. Orbital vermillion ring red. Iris with limited speckling as in 29% of the population. | 02 mongolicus AL43 adult, May 26-28 2013, Telmen Nuur, Mongolia (48°49'N, 97°10'E). Picture: Andreas Buchheim. High variability of iris pigmentation, here classified "dark eyed", iris is densely speckled as in 8% of the population. | 03 mongolicus adult, June 11 2013, Dornod, Mongolia (47,27N 115,32E). Picture: Hadoram Shirihai. Medium white tongue on underside of P10, large mirror on P10 separated from white tip by full band. Tiny mirror on P9. Full band om P5 and black on outerweb of P4. Yellow iris with speckling, red orbital ring. Still some black in tail, but greater primarey coverts adult-like grey (probably this is a 5CY or 6CY bird). |
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| 04 mongolicus AL64 adult, May 26-28 2013, Telmen Nuur, Mongolia (48°49'N, 97°10'E). Picture: Andreas Buchheim. Black on greater primary coverts. White mirror separated from small white tip by broad sub-terminal band. Short pale tongue on P10. Tiny mirror on inner web of P9. Full band on P5 and on P4, black spot on P3. No 'white moons', no white tongue tips on P6-P8. | 05 mongolicus AN16 adult, June 2013, Mongolia. Picture: Andreas Buchheim. White mirror separated from white tip, by thin but full sub-terminal black band. Medium pale tongue on P10, leaving broad medial band (medial band broader than length of mirror+tip). Mirror on both webs of P9. Full band on P5 and spot on outerweb of P4. No 'white moons', no white tongue tips on P6-P8. | 06 mongolicus AN15 adult, June 2013, Mongolia. Picture: Andreas Buchheim. Much white in wingtip. P10 mirror merged with white tip, no sub-terminal band. Long pale tongue on P10, leaving narrow medial band (medial band smaller than length of mirror+tip). Large mirror on both webs of P9. Full band on P5, black spot on P4. No 'white moons', no white tongue tips on P6-P8. |
| Caspian Gull cachinnans / ponticus As can be seen in figure 5 above, cachinnans occupies the "Aralo-Caspian refugium", i.e. this taxon represents the ancient source for gulls that have spread out over Asia. Related to this old age, this taxon shows much intraspecific variation; in phenotypics within single colonies, but also in sexual dimorphism and last but not least there is much variation within the vast breeding range for this species. In Western Europe the concept of cachinnans is rather one-dimensional: a classic view of white-headed, long-billed birds in winter with a typical wingtip pattern op P10 and full band on P5. The origin for this view are birds from the Ukraine, birds referred to as 'ponticus'. However, figure 05 below shows two birds with much more black in the wingtip in Aktogay, 4000 km east of Kiev, still classified as cachinnans. At the borders of this areal, hybridisation occurs, like the zone in North Kazakhstan where they meet barabensis and they are finally replaced by pure barabensis breeding in the Omsk and Novosibirsk Oblasts. However, there is ongoing debate on classification and nomeclature of certain populations. For some Western ornithologists it is hard to deal with so much intraspecific variation. Phenotypics: - P10 in classic Western cachinnans has a long white tongue on the underside, with abrupt rectangular end, leaving a thin black medial band (medial band thinner than size of white tip+mirror). The subterminal band on P10 is often missing or reduced to small black spots at the edges. In eastern birds there is far more black on P10, often with medium or even a short pale tongue and a full subterminal band. - P9 normally has a medium sized mirror covering both webs. The tongue shape on P9 is similar to P10. As may be expected, in eastern birds the mirror on P9 may be missing, probably especially in females. - The full black subterminal band on P5 is the norm. In eastern birds a full band may be present even on P4, and single spots on P3 or P2. Many primaries with black is often associated with barabensis, and this may explain patterns like in the female of figure 06. Bare parts are variable, but rich, saturated colours in bill and legs are not the norm. The bill often looks straw yellow with a greenish hue, and the pinkish legs have a yellow cast, making exact descriptions in the field or even from photographs sometimes difficult. However, brightly coloured birds can be found as well, probably in every colony. Upperparts are pale slate grey, about Kodak 5,5 tot 6,5, with eastern birds darker than western birds. Kodak 7-8 is the norm for barabensis. |
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01 cachinnans adult, June 28 2012, Baku landfill, Azerbaijan. Picture: Chris Gibbins. Long parallel bill, speckled iris, red gape and orbital ring, yellowish legs. Large mirrors on P10 and on P9. |
02 barabensis-cachinnans transition adult male, May 1998, Tengiz Lake, Kazachstan, (50°24'N, 69°00'E). Picture: Andreas J. Helbig. | 03 barabensis-cachinnans transition adult female, May 1998, Tengiz Lake, Kazachstan, (50°24'N, 69°00'E). Picture: Andreas J. Helbig. |
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| 04 cachinnans adult, June 28 2012, Baku landfill, Azerbaijan. Picture: Chris Gibbins. Classic Caspian Gull pattern, identical to many western ponticus. Long white tongue with abrupt angular end on P10 and full subterminal band on P5. | 05 cachinnans adult, June 07 2011, Aktogay, East-Kazakhstan (46,57N 79,40E). Picture: Gabor Papp. Short white tongue on P10, full subterminal band on P10, small mirror on P9, black on P4-P10 / P3-P10. | 06 barabensis-cachinnans transition adult male, May 1998, Tengiz Lake, Kazachstan, (50°24'N, 69°00'E). Picture: Andreas J. Helbig. Black on P2-P10, medium mirror on P9, tiny mirror on P9, full subterminal band on P4. |