Birdwatcher spots new, rare species

A new species of bird has been spotted in Malta after birdwatchers noted a strange gull at Grand Harbour last Saturday.

The bird settled on the far end of the breakwater and Michael Sammut could barely believe his eyes when he saw it, particularly as it is such a rare bird in Europe.

To make sure he had identified it correctly, Mr Sammut, who holds a diploma in ornithology from the UK's Institute for Animal Care Education and is the foremost sea bird identification expert in Malta, returned to Grand Harbour on Sunday morning. This time accompanied by two other keen bird watchers: John Azzopardi and Joe Grech.

To his delight, they confirmed it was a second-year laughing gull, a bird that breeds on the east coast of north and central America. The bird must, therefore, have travelled at least 9,000 kilometres.

The bird has not been spotted there again, however. It was seen with a mixed flock of yellow-legged gulls, Audouin's gulls, another rare species of gull that has been recorded more frequently over the past few years, black-headed gulls, Mediterranean gulls, and a single lesser black-backed gull.

"Occasionally they flew past us and returned to the breakwater. Then, this smallish gull flew past and headed towards the breakwater. It had a particularly buoyant flight, more reminiscent of a tern than a gull. None of the other gulls present had that kind of distinctive flight.

"The uniform grey of the upper wings and nape was clearly visible in flight, as were the whitish chin and throat. When it alighted on the breakwater, we could see the distinctive profile with a black, heavy, drooping bill and attenuated rear end resulting from long wings," Mr Sammut said.

"At one time the flock took flight and this gull was behaving like a skua - chasing the bigger gulls. Once again the flight was very different, being rakish and agile, with the long wings giving it the appearance of a tern. The only other gull that has a similar beak is the Audouin's gull, but the latter's plumage, bill colour, behaviour and flight were totally different. There was no doubt that this was the first record of the laughing gull in Malta," Mr Azzopardi said.

The laughing gull has become a regular vagrant to Europe in recent years and has been recorded along Europe's Atlantic coast and in the Mediterranean as far as Greece. Among other countries, it has also been recorded in the UK, the Netherlands, Austria, Denmark and Hungary.

The laughing gull, Larus atricilla, is a medium-sized gull which breeds on the Atlantic coast of north America, the Caribbean, southern California and northern South America.

Northernmost populations migrate further south in winter, and this species occurs as a rare vagrant to western Europe, although there was a large influx into northwest Europe in late October 2005 when there were between 18 and 35 in one day in the UK alone.

This species is easy to identify. It is 36 to 41 centimetres long with a 98- to 110- centimetre wingspan. The adult is white, apart from the dark grey back and wings and black head. Its wings are much darker grey than all other gulls of similar size except the smaller Franklin's gull. It has black wing tips without the white crescent shown by Franklin's gull.

Laughing gulls take three years to reach adult plumage. Immature birds are always darker than most similar-sized gulls other than Franklin's. First-year birds are greyer below and have paler heads than first year Franklin's gulls. Second-year birds can be distinguished by their wing pattern and structure.