Gull From Tallin Estonia
This was taken from our trip to Russia last year. We were on the ship entering the port in Tallin, Estonia and needless to say I was out on the deck trying to capture the many gulls that had come to greet us.
Nikon D2X
Nikon 300mm F4
ISO 200
1/2000, F4
All comments are appreciated. Thanks
Excellent Gull Judy, love the colors and clarity.
The viewfinder is my guidance.
Great colors and sharpness Judy. The sharpness of the shadow line is really abrupt to my eye (although completely understandable given the angle). Maybe "smooth" out the transition? Nice image regardless.
Steve
Flawless and excellent color Judy. I like the banking and the eye contact with great wing spread of course. Looks like it is floating on air. Estonia? What a trip that must have been.
Very nice sharpness, detail, and composition, Judy. Love the light and the background.
Very nice for all of the above reasons Judy. I couldn't help trying to ID. this one with such a good shot. I dug out my "Gulls of N.A., Europe and Asia" guide and it looks really good for juv/first winter Lesser Black-backed Gull. Cool!
Dan Brown
Many thanks Dan for the I.D. I do not have any books that could help me so I very much appreciate your efforts !!!
A juv/first winter Lesser Black-backed Gull it is. We have tons of them here in Maine on the coast.
Terrific detail in the topside view you were treated to Judy!
I really like the wing position and the composition,nice work Judy!!!
Many thanks to you Grady for the species I.D. I really appreciate the feed back .
Pose and detail are great!
Hi,
I agree with the photographic and artistic excellence, but I don't agree with the ID. The inner primaries and the greater coverts are too pale for a LBB Gull and the spotting on the upper tail is better for a Herring Gull. I believe the bird is a juvenile-plumaged European Herring gull (separable by plumage from the same plumage of American Herring gull, which some taxonomists suggest may be a separate species). Gulls, particularly juvenile ones, are amongst the most difficult birds to ID properly, and are the subject of endless discussions and arguments in the more esoteric bird ID forums on the web. There are several excellent specialty books out about Gull ID. It takes a great image like yours to see all this stuff!
-- To Grady - Do you really have tons of juvenile Lesser Black-backs on the Maine coast? We have occasional adults (nearly all the W.European graelsii) here in NS - not far as the gull flies, but very few juvs, or 1st winter birds. Breeding in N.America has only been demonstrated for the 1st time last year.
Hope this is of interest in a photography forum! --
Richard
Thank you very much Richard for your comments and for the I.D. of this gull. You are right they are difficult to identify but I know you see lots of gulls in your part of the world. I used to spend summers in Nova Scotia and loved the wonderful coastline of your beautiful province. Many thanks for taking the time to give us this additional information.
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