Wednesday 4 March 2015

A real Yellow-legged Gull

Until someone better at gulls than me shoots these pics down, I believe this to be a 1st winter Yellow-legged Gull, obviously now second calendar year, as they say.

It was one of just two large gulls on LFGP late lunchtime, I saw it arrive from the East, watched it for about 10-12 minutes and leave to the NW at 14:42.

Not as pale as one might expect, but proportions and structure all seem okay, no pale tip to the bill, but again not a deal breaker. When it flew it had no pale inner primary patch as would indicate Herring.

The first shot was actually nearly the last I took, the gull behind is the Herring Gull dwarfed by this bird.












Feedback later has revealed I'm wrong again, a large bird like this indicates Argentatus, the greater coverts are too spotted, the tertials are not clean brown, the upper tail is too streaked....oh well I'll keep looking!

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