Why are immature gulls so hard to identify?
There are several groups of birds which seem impossible to separate without years of knowledge in the field. I’ve mentioned my wader blindness before:
This time it’s my inability to reliably identify immature gulls. Here’s one:
A gull expert could easily tell me the species and then go on to tell me which calendar year the bird is, in its progression to full adult plumage, and which characteristics of which parts of the feathers are important in the identification. Some probably could tell me straight away from the shape and colour of the bill.
Reasons they are difficult (for me) to identify are:
- Immature gulls are largely grey or brown toned.
- The species overlap in size.
- The plumage varies over the years and species may take four years to become adults.
- Many species are very similar in plumage.
- The plumage may wear and become less defined.
- The species vary over their range and may hybridise.
It strikes me that identifying the immature plumage of gulls would be a great use of AI models. In future, experts will have to come up with a different way of being experts if knowledge becomes a poor currency. If every phone can tell you what a bird is, what’s left? Will we start valuing understanding or artistry more than we do now?
Anyway, I’m going with Herring Gull.