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This odd looking presumed 1cy Herring Gull was videod at Albert Village Lake, Leicestershire, England on 4th September 2015. The complete set of scapulars on the bird's right side is pale grey with very slightly darker internal marking on some of the upper feathers. The appearance is startling! How is this possible? Are these second generation feathers with atypical colour / pattern or first generation? Any comments greatly appreciated. (Whilst this is strictly speaking not an identification issue, the occurrence of atypical feather colour / pattern could cause some ID headaches on trickier birds….)
Kind regards to you all, Richard Lowe (Derbyshire, England.)

hi richard,

it's an odd pale type 1cy HG with an odd "moult-pattern": some metabolistic/genetic tricks having led to a asymmetric postjuvenile moult of only the right side of scaps, so, yes those are 2nd gen. , with a subdued pattern. rest of the bird is a fairly normal juvenile herring gull! great documentation.