Articles on the consistency of wings color patterns in ad.

[Pietro]

Hi to everyone,

To distinguish big gulls (e.g. L. michaellis vs L. argentatus, or their population) the colors on the remiges is very important. The amount of black, the size of the spots, length of the "tongue" and so on.
I would be interested to know whether there are articles or observations about the consistency of this pattern in adults.
For example: if a Larus argentatus has a 3 mm black band on P5 when is 5 years old will it be the same when he is 20?
In other words: does aging matters for the wing pattern?
I hope I made myself clear

Thanks and best,

Pietro

[marsmuusse]

Hi Pietro, I think you may look into the work on L. canus by Kalev Ratistte and the work on Herring Gulls by Martin Elliott. Maybe its good to write them ( kalev.rattiste@zbi.ee ) or see pp 21-> here: http://www.diva-portal.org/smash/get/di ... TEXT01.pdf

For Elliott I don't have a reference...

Mars

[little-W]

Hi Pietro,

I have been keeping track of the primary pattern of a ringed European Herring Gull over the last few years, between his 24th calendar year and 28th calendar year.
Have a look at my blog: Primary pattern variation in individual European Herring Gull.
I have seen him again recently and compared to the last cycle, the current pattern again shows differences. I'm hoping to be able to document this soon.

Hope this helps.

[NHLore]

The guys is Malmø has also done something on canus an found that they got more black with age.
But dosn't have the referens here.

Nils

[Pietro]

Very very interesting!!

I think this is a point worth of further investigation!!

Thanks for your answers

Pietro

[little-W]

An update on the Dutch Herring Gull: Primary pattern variation in individual European Herring Gull – 2014 update.