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Thumbnails of individual birds and links to photos at bottom of page |
Overview: In February, 1997 I spent 2 weeks in India, 4 days in Mumbai (Bombay) and 10 days near the coast about 150 miles north of Mumbai. I spent two mornings on the coast of the Arabian Sea at Dandi (for you history buffs, the salt pans at Dandi were Ghandi’s goal during his march protesting the salt acts; my mother-in-law participated in the march).
At Dandi there was a loose aggregation of perhaps 100 gulls of the three types described below. Type 1 was by far the most numerous, outnumbering Type 2 about 4 to one and Type 3 about 8 to 1. A group of fishermen on the beach seemed to approach every time I was just getting close to the birds, especially whenever I was trying for photos of type 3. But an offer of a freshly cooked fish breakfast was too good to turn down. Fortunately, their son from Toronto was visiting and translated, my Gujarati was pretty well limited to "Thank you" and "delicious".
There were a few large gulls in Mumbai harbor. They did not approach the boat. Most were dark birds of Types 1 and 2. A few were lighter backed, similar in color to Type 3, but differing in structure and bill pattern. There were tentatively identified as Armenian Gulls.
I also spent some time (nowhere near enough!) with the gull collection at the Bombay Natural History Society - my guesses as to the identity of these types was influenced partially by my observations there.
Apologies: The gulls did not allow a close enough approach for decent photographs. Additionally, the harsh lighting played havoc with exposures. In my opinion, the darker gulls (types 1 & 2) were approximately the color of Larus fuscus graellsii; type 3 was probably midway between them and L. argentatus smithsonianus.
| View Type 1 |
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| View Type 2 |
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| View Type 3 |
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Official disclaimer: The copyright marks on these photos are not an indication of the quality of the photos, merely the ownership. But the photos may be enough to kick off some interesting discussion.
Last updated: 09/05/03 06:05 PM