Mystery Bird: Black-headed Gull, Larus ridibundus

It's an adult Black-headed Gull (Larus ridibundus), despite its brown hood! A very common bird here in the UK. The dark red bill is another field mark. What camera and lens do you use for these excellent pictures?

you see them all over western france, too.

i've always thought the world of avian naming was a little strange, but as the previous poster says, the black-headed gull doesn't have a black head.

bonaparte's gulls do, though, and look very much like this example...

go figure.

Half the time they don't even have a brown head. I actually rather like their winter plummage: when they're gliding above you they're just this lovely white shape.

Adrian - Grrl just used her usual point and press camera, with a built-in lens. The bird was only a couple of meters away from her. It was one of a crowd, of different species, who were standing around waiting for the tourists to feed them.

I was asking because the bird is in perfect focus from bill to tail tip. Not many point and shoot have this depth of field in close-up shots.

hi adrian, i added the information that you might wish to know to the image above. the camera i was using is probably the finest you can get for this price range ($400 or less) -- or was two years ago. i managed to get the camera for a much reduced price ($250?? something like that) because the model was being discontinued. i think there are similarly excellent models (probably moreso now) out there, for roughly $400-$500 -- the top end point-and-shoot SLRs, basically.

even though it is a point-and-shoot, i do have a fair amount of control over the various photography settings.

Thanks for the info. I know what's on my birthday list now.