Ring-billed gull, south Portugal

​On the morning of 29 December 2019, I went to salgados lagoon (Algarve, south Portugal) and found a second-winter ring-billed gull. I took the oportunity to study this plumage, and take some record shots, because it´s the one I´ve seen less.                   

The records of Ring-billed gulls (Larus delawarensis) have been decresing during recent years, in Europe in general and in mainland Portugal in particular. There was a recent article on Birdwatch magazine by Josh Jones ("Rise and fall", Birdwatch November 2019, Issue 329), that analysied the declining records in Europe of this iconic Nearctic gull. 

I remember, back on the early 2000´s, to go to my local patch in S. Martinho do Porto bay and see eight or nine on the beach. Now, I struggle to observe one a year. I went to ebird to check my last sighting in Portugal of this species and was in 29 January 2019, a first winter in Salgados lagoon, so most likely this is the same bird i saw eleven months ago exactly on the same place.