Pacific gull reported from Paihia

[Colin Miskelly]

Kia ora

Reported via NZ Birds Online. No photos.

I think i saw a ( one ) Pacific gull on the beach in Paihia ... Definitely not a red bill , or any other of the normal gulls.
Big, bright red beak ... Aggressive to all the other gulls and even the oyster catchers

I thought I would report it anyway, my wife saw what I saw, and it looks like the Pacific gulls we see on the web.

I saw the bird at approx 2 pm 24 May 2021 on Te Tii beach, Paihia

Basically in front of the marae

[Brent Stephenson]

Hi Colin,

Thanks for getting this out quickly.

I just wonder, why someone would describe it as 'definitely not a red bill, or any other of the normal gulls' and with a 'big, bright red beak' and then think it was a Pacific gull? Pacific gull's don't have a big bright red beak? And I would have thought somebody struggling to identify a gull in this manner would not actually have picked it as different from a kelp gull? Could it have been a Caspian tern perhaps? They are not generally 'aggressive' but the begging of a juvenile might be taken as aggression?

I'd LOVE to be wrong...

[Oscar Thomas]

Have passed this onto local birders just in case.
Colin, I'm wondering why the Pacific Gull record from Glink's Gully now says 'Not Accepted' on the UBR site? http://rare.birds.org.nz/

[Colin Miskelly]

You are too quick for me Oscar. That website was updated yesterday, and I was waiting for emails on the matter to be received before posting on this website, which I have now done. I will also remove the Pacific gull page from NZ Birds Online.

Colin

[Finn Davey]

Caspian Tern:


Pacific Gull: