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Another Yellow Legged? - Grahfam Water UK (1 Viewer)
- Thread starter DoghouseRiley
- Start date
RafaelMatias
Unknown member
Lesser Black-back 
DoghouseRiley
Well-known member
Sugar got one wrong. Back to school for me. Thx Rafaelstevethehydra
Well-known member
Graellsi LBBG often looks lighter-mantled than the pictures in books (and is lighter than the other subspecies) - it's pretty common for newer birders to see one and think it's a YLG.
As a definite non-gull-expert myself, one thing I always notice that might help with graellsi vs michahellis when the relative darkness of the mantle isn't obvious (it changes a lot with light conditions!) is that (all ssp of) LBBG always seem to have a hint of brownish tone to their black/grey, whereas YLG (like Herring) seems to be on the bluer "side" of a "pure" grey... dunno whether the proper larophiles would agree with me on that though???
As a definite non-gull-expert myself, one thing I always notice that might help with graellsi vs michahellis when the relative darkness of the mantle isn't obvious (it changes a lot with light conditions!) is that (all ssp of) LBBG always seem to have a hint of brownish tone to their black/grey, whereas YLG (like Herring) seems to be on the bluer "side" of a "pure" grey... dunno whether the proper larophiles would agree with me on that though???
DoghouseRiley
Well-known member
Thanks all for the advice, and Steve that is an interesting observation
