13th August 2016 - Topsham
Less than satisfactory photos. I'm afraid, but here's my first juvenile
michahellis of 2016. A fairly typical bird and not one of the monsters that occasionally turn up. It can be difficult to convey just how straightforward these things can be; you can describe finer points of structure, of tertial edges and tail patterns or degrees of wear and moult and yet sometimes it just comes down to an immediate impression: it just looks like one.
(I should also admit that they can sometimes be very tricky, variation within LWHG taxa can be astonishing and that's not even starting on hybrids!)
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| Yellow-legged Gull juv/1w - Topsham Rec 13/8/2016 |
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Pretty much my first view and really all you need to id it.
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| Yellow-legged Gull juv/1w - Topsham Rec 13/8/2016 |
Long wings, long legs, deepish bill and square head.
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| Yellow-legged Gull juv/1w - Topsham Rec 13/8/2016 |
White head with dark eye patch, quite well-marked flanks.
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| Yellow-legged Gull juv/1w - Topsham Rec 13/8/2016 |
Simple fringes to tertials (only tips) wing coverts and scapulars - not much barring or notching. Much more worn than juv HG or LBBG with obvious moult in scaps.
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| Yellow-legged Gull juv/1w - Topsham Rec 13/8/2016 |
It spent most of it's time doing this, shuffling a few metres when the tide rose.
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| Yellow-legged Gull juv/1w - Topsham Rec 13/8/2016 |
Whitish tail base with a few large blackish spots and a neat black tail band.
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| Yellow-legged Gull juv/1w - Topsham Rec 13/8/2016 |
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| Yellow-legged Gull juv/1w - Topsham Rec 13/8/2016 |
Square head and deep hatchet bill.
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| Yellow-legged Gull juv/1w - Topsham Rec 13/8/2016 |
Dark inner PP and largely dark based GC.
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| Yellow-legged Gull juv/1w - Topsham Rec 13/8/2016 |
White upper TC and tail very white at sides (a little over exposed I admit).
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