It is the one on the left and it is called an Audouin’s Gull, scientific name Larus audouinii and Portuguese name Gaivota de Audouin. If you are thinking that the names are all very similar, then you would be right. The gull is named after Jean Victor Audouin, a French naturalist.
Apparently they can be seen regularly in the eastern Algarve but after three years of birding in the eastern Algarve our sighting the other week was a first for us. It is scarce in the rest of Portugal, but numbers are on the increase. In the 1960s there were less than 1000 breeding pairs worldwide, numbers now are estimated at around 44,000 in Europe. I would never have spotted it without MrB standing next to me. I had noticed it was a different size to the other gulls nearby but as I’m not a true birder that didn’t ring any bells for me. MrB though immediately went into birding mode and was soon pointing out to me the other variations – the longer neck, the slight downward turn and deep red of the beak and most critical of all the colour (grey-green) of the legs.
Unlike other large gulls the Audouin’s Gull rarely scavenge, perhaps a reflection of its more elegant appearance! 
They feed, almost exclusively, on fish usually snatched from near the surface or in deeper plunge dives. One exception they do make for scavenging is fish discarded from fishing trawlers, and this learnt behaviour is one of the reasons for the dramatic increase in numbers over the past 50 years. Ours didn’t do anything as exciting as fish or even fly, but he did pose long enough for me to capture some identification shots and has enabled me to share with Cate and my 6WS friends that I have seen one of the World’s rarest gulls. Now the test of course for the week ahead is whether I will identify it if we see one again.
I’m not great on gulls either, but have seen audouins fairly often in Spain thanks to being with people that can pick them out amongst crowds of commoner species and patiently directed my gaze! It’s refreshing to hear numbers are increasing because of one of our practices rather than the opposite.
Glad it isn’t just me then!!
And yes it is isn’t it. However as this practice is now beginning to be discouraged for good reason I wonder what the future holds for them
I’m pretty bad at distinguishing gulls, so I would never have spotted that. Unless Mr B was by my side of course!
He can be very useful at times 😉
We men can be, from time to time.
How exciting for you! Congrats – and thanks for sharing.
It was 😊 MrB was beside himself!
Gotta love someone with such passion for nature.
What a fortunate find! Thanks for sharing.
Thanks Ron, just hoping we get to see one again
I’m not a fan of gulls, but that’s probably because I associate them with the large, scavenging gulls that we see. This more elegant one could make me change my mind. 🙂
Ah yes the Herring Gull – disliked the world over i think. Fortunately we don’t get them here and the gulls we do get are mostly civilised albeit this one is certainly one of the most elegant ☺
Not a chance of me spotting one! I’d just go ‘there’s another bird’ 🙂 🙂
Ah but now you know what to look for…………😉
No scavenging! Well, I’d like them to take over the seagull world
Very interesting post – thanks for sharing
I’m with you on that! So glad you enjoyed the post ☺
Pretty and it doesn’t empty rubbish bins, now that’s a seagull I’d like!
And doesn’t make the horrendous sound that Herring Gulls do – perfect ☺