Bird identification help? This pic was taken a few weeks ago on a small island off the east coast of Ireland. The island ( Dalkey Island ) has a lot of nesting birds including tern...

steve49 Loc: massachusetts

This pic was taken a few weeks ago on a small island off the east coast of Ireland. The island ( Dalkey Island ) has a lot of nesting birds including tern, gulls and gannets... I happened to snap this one flying by but had trouble identifying it.. Almost looks like a vulture but didn't catch the front.

(Download)

lamiaceae Loc: San Luis Obispo County, CA

steve49 wrote:

This pic was taken a few weeks ago on a small island off the east coast of Ireland. The island ( Dalkey Island ) has a lot of nesting birds including tern, gulls and gannets... I happened to snap this one flying by but had trouble identifying it.. Almost looks like a vulture but didn't catch the front.

Hopefully an Irish UHH"er knows. I would think the tail looks diagnostic. To me it looks more Hawk like than Vulture. But I am only really familiar with the birds of California and some really common ones of the remaining West and East USA. European species, I have no specific idea. Good luck.

KindaSpikey Loc: English living in San Diego

steve49 wrote:

This pic was taken a few weeks ago on a small island off the east coast of Ireland. The island ( Dalkey Island ) has a lot of nesting birds including tern, gulls and gannets... I happened to snap this one flying by but had trouble identifying it.. Almost looks like a vulture but didn't catch the front.

HI Steve. Can't say I'm 100%,but I'm fairly sure it's a Slaty-backed gull. Hope that helps you!

steve49 Loc: massachusetts

Thanks, the wing tip spread threw me off of gulls.. but there sure are a lot of different gulls there.

robertjerl Loc: Corona, California

KindaSpikey wrote:

HI Steve. Can't say I'm 100%,but I'm fairly sure it's a Slaty-backed gull. Hope that helps you!

Agree, looked it up on e-bird and the top image on the right side seems to be it.
https://ebird.org/species/slbgul

steve49 Loc: massachusetts

yep. Looks like the one but pretty far out of his normal range! Thanks for the identity.

J-SPEIGHT Loc: Akron, Ohio

steve49 wrote:

This pic was taken a few weeks ago on a small island off the east coast of Ireland. The island ( Dalkey Island ) has a lot of nesting birds including tern, gulls and gannets... I happened to snap this one flying by but had trouble identifying it.. Almost looks like a vulture but didn't catch the front.

Nice shot Steve

steve49 Loc: massachusetts

Thanks.

randave2001 Loc: Richmond

Best I can tell, you have captured the south end of a north bound bird.

jeep_daddy Loc: Prescott AZ

randave2001 wrote:

Best I can tell, you have captured the south end of a north bound bird.

Yup. No ID on this one. Better luck next time getting a front shot. I don't have any bird books for that area, but if you get one for that area, it's shouldn't be too hard to find a bird with an all white tail.

joecichjr Loc: Chicago S. Suburbs, Illinois, USA

steve49 wrote:

This pic was taken a few weeks ago on a small island off the east coast of Ireland. The island ( Dalkey Island ) has a lot of nesting birds including tern, gulls and gannets... I happened to snap this one flying by but had trouble identifying it.. Almost looks like a vulture but didn't catch the front.

Beautiful, eye-catching capture 🍀🍀🍀🍀🍀

Zooman 1

How about a white tailed sea eagle?

steve49 Loc: massachusetts

Actually looking at the file I can see the
Edge of the birds head.
I thk it confirms the slaty back gull suggested early in the thread. I can see
The mottled edge of his head as well as his beak.
Cool bird anyway!
Great spot to shoot birds… got a few good tern shots and a decent number of assorted other gulls.