The gulls with rings wintering in Basel, Switzerland

Many wintering gulls inspired even some street artist to decorate this technology booth on the Rhine bank. Since couple of years I am collecting ring numbers of gulls wintering in and around Basel. This makes bird watching also in winter, when there is not so many birds around, quite interesting. Basel is a favorite wintering place of black-headed gulls from all the Europe so one can always hope for unexpected discoveries. The gulls are arriving to Basel in mid-October, staying through the winter and leaving again in mid-March to their breeding places. Most of the gulls are wintering on the Rhine directly in Basel, in the Basel harbour or at the "Dreilaendereck" - place on the Rhine where the borders of Switzerland, France and Germany intersect. A good place to observe gulls is also "Park im Gruenen" a parc with 2 lakes in Muenchenstein near Basel. The gulls favor all these places because people use to feed them there.
Reading the codes on colored plastic rings is relatively easy, much more challenging is reading the metal rings. This requires a lot of patience, one needs to take photos of the bird from all sides and quite often when you are nearly done the bird flies away and you end with one or two characters still missing.
After reporting the ring code, either to the Swiss ringing center or to the organization that did the actual ringing (it may be identified with help of the European color-ring database) one hopes to receive a so called "recovery report" with information when and where the bird was ringed and where it was previously observed.
Below I am including the list of ringed gulls I have observed in the Basel area, some information about their histories from the recovery reports and also some photos. Most of the data are for black-headed gulls (Larus ridibundus / Chroicocephalus ridibundus), at the end is my single observation of a ringed Caspian gull (Larus cachinnans). If you are interested in this topic you may wish to check also a report about ringed gulls by Bebbi Babblers (a group of young Basel ornithologists).

Belarus (White Russia)

Croatia

SP6K - observed 22. Dec. 2017 and also 17. Nov. 2018 in Birsfelden was ringed in Jakusevec near Zagreb in Feb. 2017.

S2BY observed 13. Jan 2019 on Rhine by Dreilaenderbruecke, Weil am Rhein, was ringed in Jakusevec in Central Croatia in dex. 2016.

Czechia

Z84J observed 20. Nov. 2018 on Rhine in Basel was ringed in May 2018 as an adult bird in Ceska Skalice

Denmark

Estonia

Finland

Germany

XC42 HIDDENSEE IA 086 273 - three years later the bird is again here, observer 18. Jan. 2020 at the same place. Who knows what it did and where it was during these 3 years?

AF069 observed 31. Dec. 2017 on Rhine in Dreilaendereck and 9. Dec. 2018 in Kleinhueningen (2nd wintering here) was ringed in Nov. 2016 in Hamburg.

Hungary

HMLK This bird with red plastic ring was observed 17. Jan. 2020 at Kleinhueningen, was ringed in February 2018 in Budapest.

Lithuania

HA-45507 KAUNAS, LITHUANIA - observed 9. Dec. 2018 on river Wiese in Kleinhueningen (part of Basel) was ringed in June 2018 as nestling in eastern Lithuania - 1531 km from Basel!

Netherlands

ERJ1 ARNHEM, HOLLAND - observed 11. Jan. and 1. Feb. 2018 on Rhine in Basel was ringed as young bird in Aug. 2016 in Arnhem.

Poland

65.328 ORN GDANSK POLAND observed 31. Jan 2016 Park im Gruenen in Muenchenstein

TYHE observed 20. Nov. 2018 on Rhine in Village-Neuf (FR), was ringed in June 2018 in Turek, Central Poland as an adult bird.

T927 observed 20. Jan 2018 on Rhine in Basel was ringed in May 2015 as pullus in Januszkowice, this bird was observed also in Sempach (CH) and Utrecht (NNL).

T6HC - observed 22. Dec. 2017 and also in 17. Nov. 2018 in Birsfelden, ringed in May 2017 as adult bird in Mietkow.

FN90.574 GDANSK POLAND - observed 15. Feb. 2016 in Park im Gruenen in Muenchenstein.

Russia

Slovakia

Sweden

6429705 STOCKOLM observed 25. Dec. 2019 on Rhine in Basel, ringed in March 2009 as adult bird in Malmö.

Switzerland

K80271 VOGELWARTE SEMPACH - observed 2. Feb. 2019 on Rhine in Village Neuf (FR), was ringed as adult bird in March 2007 at Sempachersee (CH). The bird is therefore at least 14 years old (one can see this also from the look of the ring). This gull is quite a traveller, in the meantime it was reported from central Poland and from Friedrichshafen in Germany.

K118821 VOGELWARTE SEMPACH - observed 2. Jan. and 10. Feb. 2018 in Park im Gruenen in Muenchenstein and also next winter on 26. Dec. 2018 at the same place, was ringed as young bird in December 2017 in Oberkirch (Luzern).

K118694 VOGELWARTE SEMPACH - observed 30. Nov. on Rhine in Basel, was ringed in October 2016 as adult bird in Oberkirch on Sempachersee.