SLENDER-BILLED GULL Chroicocephalus genei

Found mainly in southern Europe and east to Central Asia wintering largely in Africa, this bird has occurred as a vagrant to the UK, remarkably three out of ten records are of pairs, but they've never stayed to breed. Likewise they've never stayed in front of my camera for long, a decent photo eluded me for many years, but I finally had some success in Kazakhstan, hence the odd "companion". Although usually shown with a red bill in field guides, they can have black bills, or intermediates.

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