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Gull, Aberdeenshire. (1 Viewer)

Took this last month at Loch of Skene, lots of Common Gull here but this one looks a bit strange, maybe it's the light or is it a juvenile, just looked a bit odd whilst I was going through some photos.

Thanks
Jim
 

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It's just moulting the outer primaries, making it look relatively short-winged and lacking most of the black on the "hand". You can see the largely black outer primaries just growing through.
 
Lou, I'm seeing a Common Gull in this picture: greenish bill without red gonys spot, and only a short pale tongue on P8 (i.e. the outermost, growing primary in this case).
 
really? well, the bird looks bulkier overall than a common gull. especially its body but also its bill which, to me, looks much stronger than a common gull bill - red (at this time of year often pale orange) gonys spot not visible due to blurriness/low resolution. p8 is not fully grown, so it would show a tongue later on base. admittedly quite some black on it and black even down to p5 (full subterminal mark) indicating a younger bird (if it really is a herring gull). still that amount of black should be possible in ~4cy argenteus.
any other pic might help, i might be to stubborn to accept this as common gull (with stuck in feet maybe making the body loking bulkier than it really is).
 
I purposefully eluded to the species in my last comment as I wasn't sure but whichever it is the moulting primaries are probably the reason for confusion Jim
 
Sure there will be a tongue on p8, but it is already clear that the extent of black is simply huge compared to p7.
This discrepancy is typical of Common Gulls. A Herring Gull with a lot of black on p8 would show quite extensive black on p7 too. Bill may be held opened slightly here, making it look thicker than it really is. You need really blurry photographs to make the red gonys spot disappear completely!

I'm working on a paper on Common Gulls and have been looking at their primary patterns for three years now.
I'm pretty sure this one is a Common Gull.
 
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