Friday 18 November 2016

Yellow-legged Gull

At first glance this does look like a YLG, but there are a couple of features that make me think that this is a pale 1st Winter Herring Gull. Most importantly the tertials have a very noticeable internal notched pattern running along their edges - a classic imm Herring Gull feature. YLG tertials are more like those of Lesser Black-backed Gull i.e. largely plain with pale tips and little or no internal notching. Also the bird's head looks too delicate for YLG which tends to have quite a heavy looking, 'square' head.