''Gulls of Europe, Asia and North America'' by
Klaus Malling Olsen and Hans Larsson is a volume in the ''
Helm Identification Guides
The ''Helm Identification Guides'' are a series of books that identify groups of birds. The series include two types of guides, those that are:
* Taxonomic, dealing with a particular family of birds on a worldwide scale—most early Helm Guides ...
'' series of bird identification books.
The book is intended to succeed
Peter J. Grant's ''
Gulls: A Guide to Identification'' as the standard identification work on
Northern Hemisphere gull
Gulls, or colloquially seagulls, are seabirds of the family Laridae in the suborder Lari. They are most closely related to the terns and skimmers and only distantly related to auks, and even more distantly to waders. Until the 21st century ...
s. Although the Helm series already contained a volume on
seabird
Seabirds (also known as marine birds) are birds that are adapted to life within the marine environment. While seabirds vary greatly in lifestyle, behaviour and physiology, they often exhibit striking convergent evolution, as the same enviro ...
s, by Peter Harrison, gulls compete for space in that volume with several other seabird families; in addition, Harrison's book was published in 1983, a time when knowledge of gull identification (and taxonomy) was in a considerably more primitive state (and Harrison himself was a specialist in pelagic birds rather than gulls specifically). Malling Olsen & Larsson's book equals or exceeds Grant's work in terms of its level of detail, and consolidates and synthesises the considerable amount of new information that has been discovered since then.
The first edition of Olsen and Larsson's book was released in 2003. While the book was initially generally well-received, a large number of errors soon came to light. As a result, this edition was withdrawn, and a reprint with corrections was released in 2004. Because the publishers required only the title page of the book to be returned in order for purchasers to receive the reprint free of charge, many copies of the first printing are still in circulation. (Those with a title page are identifiable by the absence of the words "Reprinted with corrections 2004" below the publisher's address on reverse of the title page.) The ISBN of the corrected reprint is .
The corrected reprint has 608 pages. In total, 43 species are given full treatment by this work — identification text, colour plates by Larsson, and several colour photographs (the plates and photographs are placed with the species texts, not grouped together in a separate section). In addition, three Southern Hemisphere species which have occurred as
vagrants
Vagrancy is the condition of homelessness without regular employment or income. Vagrants (also known as bums, vagabonds, rogues, tramps or drifters) usually live in poverty and support themselves by begging, scavenging, petty theft, tempora ...
in the Northern Hemisphere (
band-tailed gull,
grey gull
The grey gull, also known as garuma gull (''Leucophaeus modestus'') is a medium-sized gull native to South America. Unusual among gulls, it breeds inland in the extremely dry Atacama Desert in northern Chile, although it is present as a non-bree ...
and
swallow-tailed gull
The swallow-tailed gull (''Creagrus furcatus'') is an equatorial seabird in the gull family, Laridae. It is the only species in the genus ''Creagrus'', which derives from the Latin ''Creagra'' and the Greek ''kreourgos'' which means butcher, al ...
) are covered more briefly in an appendix, with a single photograph each, and brief mention is also made here of
silver gull
The silver gull (''Chroicocephalus novaehollandiae'') is the most common gull of Australia. It has been found throughout the continent, but particularly at or near coastal areas. It is smaller than the Pacific gull (''Larus pacificus''), which ...
which has occurred as an escape from captivity. Preceding the species accounts, an introduction covers the book's species-level taxonomy, and gives general advice on gull identification, including ageing and moult, hybrid and aberrant birds, and the effects of lighting conditions, and plumage wear and fading.
The book is particularly notable in that it is the first work to bring together information discovered during the late 1980s, 1990s and early 21st century on the identification of birds of the
large white-headed gull complex. The book adopts a conservative approach at higher taxonomic levels, lumping all gulls (except for
ivory gull,
Ross's gull
Ross's gull (''Rhodostethia rosea'') is a small gull, the only species in its genus, although it has been suggested it should be moved to the genus '' Hydrocoloeus'', which otherwise only includes the little gull.
This bird is named after the B ...
and the two
kittiwake
The kittiwakes (genus ''Rissa'') are two closely related seabird species in the gull family Laridae, the black-legged kittiwake (''Rissa tridactyla'') and the red-legged kittiwake (''Rissa brevirostris''). The epithets "black-legged" and "red-l ...
s) in the genus ''Larus''. A revised taxonomy is adopted at the species level, however; a number of distinctive forms (mainly in the large white-headed gull complex) are regarded as separate species.
Species-level taxonomic decisions adopted in the book are as follows:
*
American herring gull
The American herring gull or Smithsonian gull (''Larus smithsonianus'' or ''Larus argentatus smithsonianus'') is a large gull that breeds in North America, where it is treated by the American Ornithological Society as a subspecies of herring gul ...
(''Larus smithsonianus'') is treated as a separate species from
European herring gull
The European herring gull (''Larus argentatus'') is a large gull, up to long. One of the best-known of all gulls along the shores of Western Europe, it was once abundant. It breeds across Northern Europe, Western Europe, Central Europe, Eastern ...
(''L. argentatus'')
*
Yellow-legged gull
The yellow-legged gull (''Larus michahellis'') is a large gull found in Europe, the Middle East and North Africa, which has only recently achieved wide recognition as a distinct species. It was formerly treated as a subspecies of either the Cas ...
(''L. michahellis'') (including the form ''atlantis'') and
Armenian gull
__NOTOC__
The Armenian gull (''Larus armenicus'') is a large gull found in the Caucasus and the Middle East. It was formerly classified as a subspecies of the European herring gull (''L. argentatus''), but is now generally considered to be a ...
(''L. armenicus'') are treated as separate species from the European herring gull
*
Caspian gull
The Caspian gull (''Larus cachinnans'') is a large gull and a member of the herring and lesser black-backed gull complex. The scientific name is from Latin. ''Larus'' appears to have referred to a gull or other large seabird, and ''cachinnans'' ...
(''L. cachinnans'') is treated as a separate species from European herring and yellow-legged gulls, and is defined as including the forms ''barabensis'' and ''mongolicus''
*
Heuglin's gull (''L. heuglini'') (including the form ''taimyrensis'') and
Vega gull
The Vega gull, East Siberian gull, or East Siberian herring gull (''Larus vegae'') is a large gull of the herring gull/lesser black-backed gull complex which breeds in Northeast Asia. Its classification is still controversial and uncertain. It i ...
(''L. vegae'') (including the form ''birulai'') are each given full species status
*
Common gull
The common gull or sea mew (''Larus canus'') is a medium-sized gull that breeds in the Palearctic, northern Europe. The closely related short-billed gull is sometimes included in this species, which may be known collectively as "mew gull". Man ...
(''L. canus'') (including the forms ''heinei'' and ''kamschatensis'') and
mew gull (''L. brachyrhynchus'') are treated as separate species.
Olsen and Larsson had previously collaborated on two other volumes in the Helm series, on
tern
Terns are seabirds in the family Laridae that have a worldwide distribution and are normally found near the sea, rivers, or wetlands. Terns are treated as a subgroup of the family Laridae which includes gulls and skimmers and consists of e ...
s and
skua
The skuas are a group of predatory seabirds with seven species forming the genus ''Stercorarius'', the only genus in the family Stercorariidae. The three smaller skuas, the long-tailed skua, the Arctic skua, and the pomarine skua are called ...
s.
Errors in the second edition
The following is a list of errors in the corrected reprint:
* On page 21, the illustration of a gull's head, with a pointer highlighting an ear-spot, shows a bird with a full hood; ear-spots are a feature which appears on hooded gulls only when the hood (a feature of breeding plumage) is lost, in winter.
[ Adriaens, Peter (2005) Recensies: Klaus Malling Olsen & Hans Larsson, 2004. Gulls of Europe, Asia and North America. '']Dutch Birding
''Dutch Birding'', originally subtitled ''Journal of the Dutch Birding Association'', and currently subtitled ''International journal on Palaearctic birds'', is an ornithological magazine published by the Amsterdam-based Dutch Birding Association ...
'' 27 (4): 263-268
* On page 27, the caption to figure 14 (an illustration of the spread wingtip of a
Caspian gull
The Caspian gull (''Larus cachinnans'') is a large gull and a member of the herring and lesser black-backed gull complex. The scientific name is from Latin. ''Larus'' appears to have referred to a gull or other large seabird, and ''cachinnans'' ...
) describes a "broad white tip" on p9 whereas the figure shows a broad white ''mirror''.
* On page 496, a report of 14
relict gull
The relict gull or Central Asian gull (''Ichthyaetus relictus'') is a medium-sized gull. It was believed to be an eastern race of the Mediterranean gull until 1971 and was traditionally placed in the genus ''Larus''.
Description
The gull is 4 ...
s in
Ukraine
Ukraine ( uk, Україна, Ukraïna, ) is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the second-largest European country after Russia, which it borders to the east and northeast. Ukraine covers approximately . Prior to the ongoing Russian inv ...
is dated May 2001, whereas these birds were actually seen in May 2000 in the
Russia
Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and Northern Asia. It is the largest country in the world, with its internationally recognised territory covering , and encompassing one-eig ...
/
Kazakhstan
Kazakhstan, officially the Republic of Kazakhstan, is a transcontinental country located mainly in Central Asia and partly in Eastern Europe. It borders Russia to the north and west, China to the east, Kyrgyzstan to the southeast, Uzbeki ...
border area.
[Piskunov, Vladimir V and A N Antonchikov (2007) Flock of 14 Relict Gulls in southern Russia and north-western Kazakhstan in May 2000. ''Dutch Birding'' 29 (2): 94-95]
* On page 276, the picture number 365 is missing (it should show an "Adult summer ssp. argenteus", according to the legend).
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Gulls Of Europe, Asia And North America
Bird field guides