HG with lots of dark in the tail

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hieraaetus
Posts:104
Joined:Fri Oct 22, 2010 7:53 am
HG with lots of dark in the tail

Post by hieraaetus » Tue Dec 18, 2012 1:25 pm

Hi All,

I have taken some pictures of a 2nd-winter HG at my local patch in Hungary today. I'm just wondering how frequently you can see this kind of dark tail among the European HGs? Or the other way around: is it within the range of smithsonianus?
I am not familiar with this age group of HGs at all so the question might seem a bit naive to you:)
I attached some flight shots from today and one depicting the bird standing from 2 weeks ago ( At least I think this is the same bird).

Thanks for your comments!

Cheers,

Gabor
Attachments
2ndwinter_20121207_5863.jpg
2ndwinter_20121207_5863.jpg (264.21KiB)Viewed 5054 times
2ndwinter_darktail_20121218_7230.jpg
2ndwinter_darktail_20121218_7230.jpg (188.1KiB)Viewed 5054 times
2ndwinter_darktail_20121218_7220.jpg
2ndwinter_darktail_20121218_7220.jpg (264.31KiB)Viewed 5054 times
2ndwinter_darktail_20121218_7153.jpg
2ndwinter_darktail_20121218_7153.jpg (246.78KiB)Viewed 5054 times

adriaens
Posts:229
Joined:Sun Sep 27, 2009 9:24 pm

Re: HG with lots of dark in the tail

Post by adriaens » Tue Dec 18, 2012 5:00 pm

Hi,
this tail pattern is perfectly normal for 2w European Herring Gull.
The tail can even be all-black.
Even in a very few 1st-cycle European HGs this is the case!

hieraaetus
Posts:104
Joined:Fri Oct 22, 2010 7:53 am

Re: HG with lots of dark in the tail

Post by hieraaetus » Tue Dec 18, 2012 5:45 pm

adriaens wrote:Hi,
this tail pattern is perfectly normal for 2w European Herring Gull.
The tail can even be all-black.
Even in a very few 1st-cycle European HGs this is the case!
Hi Adriaens,

Thanks a lot!

Regards,

Gabor

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