Hey everyone! I just got home from awesome trip to Abu Dhabi (from Canada) and logged all of my sightings on eBird/iNaturalist. Upon review there were a few birds I was not sure about and any help would be greatly appreciated!
Gulls are always tricky for me, never mind trying to ID Gulls in another hemisphere. Gut told me Lesser Black Backed but iNaturalist and Merlin suggest Caspian? Seen by the Al Reem Mangroves.
Saw a few of these birds by the Louvre. I'm thinking Lesser Crested Tern?
Also at the Louvre. Merlin seemed to be at odds about Eurasian vs Oriental Skylark but pretty sure it's Eurasian?
Seen on two separate occasions at the Al Reem Mangroves. Indian Pond Heron right?
Thanks again everyone!
eBird rocks, eh? ;-) As does Merlin it seems.
The gull is most likely a Lesser Black-backed Gull. I normally log these young ones as Larus sp. in eBird, as Caspian is a possibility, but looking at the round head, I'd say Lesser Black-backed ssp is a fair bet. Tern is correct.
Lark is 99.9% Eurasian Skylark, but Oriental (uncommon to rare) is best ID'd on call. The Pond Heron is interesting, as IPH is rather rare in Abu Dhabi. But I don't see anything making this a Squacco Heron. More photos of the other bird?