Quiet day in Anza

Mediterranean Gull (Ichthyaetus melanocephalus) probably ringed in Camargue, France

One day more in Anza with perfect conditions but where are all the gulls? The number of gulls were extensive reduced compared to earlier. The production was still on in the sardine fabric so this can not be the reason. The day was less productive than the last couple of days but we still managed to get a few new readings. Here are some pictures of today's gulls.

JK3J is a second year LBBG ringed by Carsten Lome and John Martin Mjelde in Oslo in 2012. Also seen in Anza in 2012.

UDAC with a satellite transmitter probably ringed in Belgium by Eric Stienen.

Any suggestions to species and age to this gull?.

JE56 is ringed in Mandal, Norway and was also seen in Anza in 2012.

Anza and Agadir harbor schedule of the day

Today the conditions were the same, perfect in the morning and windy and difficult in the afternoon. At lunch we decided to check Agadir fishing harbor. We have earlier had problems getting trough the security because our french is rather poor. The paper in french saying what we are doing and pictures of ringed gulls was every handy and because of this we passed the security gards in just some seconds. In Agadir harbor the gulls were very trustful. We could just drive the car and photograph ringed birds. The number of gulls were only some hundred but we got a really nice bird here. JJ6K appeared just 5 meters from our car. JJ6K is a Lesser black-backed gull ringed as a pullus at the island Fedje in 2011. One of Morten Helbergs LBBG with geolight logger was also one of the highlights of the day.

In total the day produced 30 LBBGs ringed in Norway which takes us to 62 in total for the trip.We have also summarized Roland-Jan Buijs birds and for the present the number is 51.

HV941 is a first year bird probably ringed by Sönke Martens

6AJ2 is ringed by Paul Veron

This leucistic LBBG was also last year feeding on sardins remains in Anza

J9MA is one of Morten Helberg logger birds ringed in Mandal. The bird was seen in Anza also in 2012.

Perfect morning but windy afternoon in Anza

Today we started at Agadir beach in the early morning hours which gave some good readings. After a quick breakfest at the hotel we continued in Anza where the conditions were perfect with almost no wind and good ligth.

In the afternoon the wind increased and we were close to give up when a really good bird showed up. JC5K suddenly appeared in the middle of the pack. We ringed this bird in the city centre park in Bergen in 2011 as a 1 cy, read it in Anza in February 2012 and now again here in Anza! Perfect!


We also had one of this years birds from the city center park in Bergen, JM9Y.

In total we had 34 different Norwegian birds today. 27 of these were new for this trip which take us to 52 different Norwegian birds in two days. Of other countries birds from The Nederlands dominates especially the tibia rings Roland-Jan Buijs.

JMM5 is ringed as a pullus in Hedmark, Norway.

J7CA is ringed by Morten Helberg as a pullus in Vest-Agder, Norway and is probably a part of his PhD.

7Y is one of Roland-Jan Buijs LBBGs.

F090 is ringed in Portugal

ARAD is ringed by Mike Marsh in UK.

Finally Anza again

This year we repeated last years success and went for a new trip to Agadir, Morocco with the main goal of reading gulls in Anza. This year together with two cars from Mandal and one from Karmøy. The three other cars vent not surprisingly to twitch non-gull species like Dupont's Lark, Houbara Bustard and Pharaoh Eagle Owl a long long drive into the desert but Christian and me vent for the real thing which of course is ring reading in Anza ;-)

The fish factory was not open on a Sunday, but the nice fishy smell was still there and the gulls were numerous. The only problem today was the heavy wind from east and north east which made sand storms in Anza now and then.

The best bird of today was J0KV which is an acquaintance from Realfagbuilding at University of Bergen where is was ringed in May 2012 and breed on the same roof in 2013. Very nice to see this bird in Anza. In total we had 25 different norwegian Lesser black-backed gulls which is 7  more than the first day in Anza in 2012. We also had 18 of Roland-Jan Buijs's tibia ringed LBBGs.

Tomorrow the weather forecast promise less wind and the fish factory should be open so hopefully we get many more readings.

YAZA is one of the LBBG ringed by Kees Camphuysen

This first year LBBG (LHLN) is a bird we think is ringed by Mike Marsh in UK.

One of Roland-Jan Buijs LGGB

This second year bird (4AP5) was also seen last year in Anza and is a Guernsey LBBG ringed by Paul Veron

J168A is ringed in Oslo, Norway by Carsten Lome

A second year bird ringed by Roland-Jan Buijs

This mediterainan Gull is probably ringed in Camargue, France