Two 2nd year gulls - contrast and compare

24th April 2014 - Topsham

Fresh juvenile Herring and Lesser Black-backed Gulls can look confusingly similar (to me anyway) in late summer, here's how different they can appear by the following spring. Both birds from Topsham Rec this morning - apart from newly arrived Reed Warblers singing and a few Greenshanks still fueling up it was a quiet day.

First a 2nd calendar year/1st cycle Herring Gull; all scapulars 2nd generation but very  worn and bleached, all tertials and coverts retained juvenile feathers and also much the worse for wear, the median and lesser coverts are particularly pale, the darker marginal coverts just visible at the bend of the wing have presumably been more shielded from the elements.

Herring Gull 2cy - 24/4/2014 Topsham

Herring Gull 2cy - 24/4/2014 Topsham

Now at the other extreme here's a 2nd calendar year/1st cycle Lesser Black-backed Gull. It's basically the same age as the Herring Gull, and likewise the scapulars are all 2nd generation, the coverts and tertials are all retained juvenile feathers. The rear lower scapulars are later grown and plainer and darker than the older upper scapulars. The tertials and inner greater coverts are fairly worn though still quite dark, the rest of the wing coverts are still pretty fresh - dark with neat pale fringes.

Lesser Black-backed Gull 2cy - 24/4/2014 Topsham

Lesser Black-backed Gull 2cy - 24/4/2014 Topsham

As I said somewhere else: never a dull moment...honestly!