Puzzling gull

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adriaens
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Puzzling gull

Post by adriaens » Thu Apr 14, 2011 5:43 pm

Hi all,

nothing important really, but I was a bit taken aback by this 1st-cycle gull from last weekend.
Photos taken on the beach of Oostduinkerke, Belgium, April 10th.
Simply a Yellow-legged Gull with unusually fresh (and unmoulted) wing coverts for the time of the year ?
GullSpec_1c_Oostduinkerke_10-04-2011_003.JPG
GullSpec_1c_Oostduinkerke_10-04-2011_003.JPG (144.39KiB)Viewed 3011 times
GullSpec_1c_Oostduinkerke_10-04-2011_002.JPG
GullSpec_1c_Oostduinkerke_10-04-2011_002.JPG (145.19KiB)Viewed 3011 times
GullSpec_1c_Oostduinkerke_10-04-2011_005.JPG
GullSpec_1c_Oostduinkerke_10-04-2011_005.JPG (141.57KiB)Viewed 3011 times

Ruud Altenburg
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Re: Puzzling gull

Post by Ruud Altenburg » Thu Apr 14, 2011 6:42 pm

Fresh one indeed!

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JanJ
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Re: Puzzling gull

Post by JanJ » Thu Apr 14, 2011 6:45 pm

Perhaps those second generation wing coverts I belive I can se are so worn & bleached that they are hard to separate from the juvenile ones.

Other than that - it looks like a YLG.

JanJ

adriaens
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Re: Puzzling gull

Post by adriaens » Fri Apr 15, 2011 9:35 am

Some cropped photos of this bird, showing more detail.
I think one lesser coverts has been replaced indeed, but otherwise the wing coverts still look juvenile to me.
Some central median and greater coverts appear to be missing though, revealing the underlying feathers.
GullSpec_1c_Oostduinkerke_10-04-2011_003_crop.JPG
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GullSpec_1c_Oostduinkerke_10-04-2011_003_detail.JPG
GullSpec_1c_Oostduinkerke_10-04-2011_003_detail.JPG (115.93KiB)Viewed 2998 times

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JanJ
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Re: Puzzling gull

Post by JanJ » Fri Apr 15, 2011 7:20 pm

At a closer look I agree that there seems to be just a single 2nd generation lesser covert.
Such a fresh bird, with no or a minimal 2nd gen coverts at this time of year would certainly indicate Herring over YLG. Structure, bill dimension/colour, tail pattern (as much it can be judged from the single pic) and inner primariy pattern suggest YLG. However, could there be any other involment?

JanJ

lou bertalan
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Re: Puzzling gull

Post by lou bertalan » Sat Apr 16, 2011 8:33 am

JanJ wrote:At a closer look I agree that there seems to be just a single 2nd generation lesser covert.
Such a fresh bird, with no or a minimal 2nd gen coverts at this time of year would certainly indicate Herring over YLG. Structure, bill dimension/colour, tail pattern (as much it can be judged from the single pic) and inner primariy pattern suggest YLG. However, could there be any other involment?

JanJ
the only strange thing in this gulls seem to be the rather fresh and a bit unusual patterned scaps. i see no problem in the retarded plumage (no or just 1 replaced covert) since let's say 15% 1st cycle michs have no 2nd gen. coverts. one example: http://lou.bertalan.de/gulls/m_phi.php? ... nuary-june often these ind. have shed their rear lower coverts.
i think this is a maybe more northern bred female type mich.

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