Odd Larus marinus in a very odd place

[vuelvepiedras]

Hi all dudes,

I'm sending a couple of photos by Huberto García, from the Island of Alboran, a Spanish small insland located between S Spain and Africa.

The bird looks good for GBBG except for its legs, pale yellow. Primary pattern fits marinus, but...

I need some help to take out of my head the hybrid marinus x dominicanus solution. Bad quality pics due to intense sunlight and distance.

Cheers.
Gabi

Link to my blog with a map: http://larusfuscus.blogspot.com/2011/05 ... boran.html

gavion.jpg (373.54KiB)Viewed 1752 times

gavion con alas extendidas.jpg (81.8KiB)Viewed 1752 times

gavion 1.jpg (99.43KiB)Viewed 1752 times

[lou bertalan]

olá, gabi!

weird thing. while yellow-legged GBBG do occure (i have seen two among about 40 of which i could see the legs on gotland in the baltic sea), your looks not unlike the beasts breeding at kniffiss-lagoon in morocco which isn't too far away... so you might be right with your suggestion - but what about marinus x michahellis? p5 mark and slight contrast between priamary tips and coverts on upperwing may suggest this combo.

best wishes,

lou