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Puzzling gull
Posted: Thu Apr 14, 2011 5:43 pm
by adriaens
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 (144.39KiB)Viewed 4992 times
- GullSpec_1c_Oostduinkerke_10-04-2011_002.JPG (145.19KiB)Viewed 4992 times
- GullSpec_1c_Oostduinkerke_10-04-2011_005.JPG (141.57KiB)Viewed 4992 times
Re: Puzzling gull
Posted: Thu Apr 14, 2011 6:42 pm
by Ruud Altenburg
Fresh one indeed!
Re: Puzzling gull
Posted: Thu Apr 14, 2011 6:45 pm
by JanJ
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
Re: Puzzling gull
Posted: Fri Apr 15, 2011 9:35 am
by adriaens
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 (436.66KiB)Viewed 4979 times
- GullSpec_1c_Oostduinkerke_10-04-2011_003_detail.JPG (115.93KiB)Viewed 4979 times
Re: Puzzling gull
Posted: Fri Apr 15, 2011 7:20 pm
by JanJ
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
Re: Puzzling gull
Posted: Sat Apr 16, 2011 8:33 am
by lou bertalan
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.