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I have never seen a (small) mirror on both P8 in a Herring gull.
I haven't found an example on the web.
Has anyone seen this before or is this really rare?

kind regards
leon edelaar

hi leon,

it's not common but sometimes seen in herring gull. in this ind. (photo chris gibbins) the p8 mirror is even larger: http://www.birdforum.net/attachment.php ... 1293742879

lou

I have only ever seen this in Iceland, where I suspect it is a sign of Glaucous Gull influence.
Was Chris' photo taken in the north of Scotland in winter?

adriaens wrote:I have only ever seen this in Iceland, where I suspect it is a sign of Glaucous Gull influence.
Was Chris' photo taken in the north of Scotland in winter?

no, it's a record shot of a bird wintering in bucharest last winter. one of 3 record shots of herring gull for that country

are there proven hybrids glaucous x iceland gull????

lou

I was talking about Iceland, the country, Lou, not the bird...

adriaens wrote:I was talking about Iceland, the country, Lou, not the bird...

ouff

Today this bird was present at my local patch (Houten, Utrecht, the Netherlands). All white p10, small marking on p9 and a mirror on p8. Not a very common primary pattern to me.