pooleparrot
Ian Ballam
I thought this may be a Yellow-legged Gull, distant pics. Appreciate help with ID
Thanks
Thanks
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Gull, Poole Harbour , Dorset. Dec 11th 2024 (1 Viewer)
- Thread starter pooleparrot
- Start date
martyrynin
Guest
Hey pooleparrot,
In my opinion this is a second winter Herring gull, but happy to be proven wrong of course!
Generally, the bird does not look long enough in the rear and the head looks to be fairly rounded and not as flat as I'd expect in YLG.
The beak doesn't look particularly strong, and is bi-coloured, whereas a second winter YLG would have a mostly black beak I believe.
Finally the leg colour is bright pink, which in a second winter YLG I'd expect to be more of a flesh colour.
In my opinion this is a second winter Herring gull, but happy to be proven wrong of course!
Generally, the bird does not look long enough in the rear and the head looks to be fairly rounded and not as flat as I'd expect in YLG.
The beak doesn't look particularly strong, and is bi-coloured, whereas a second winter YLG would have a mostly black beak I believe.
Finally the leg colour is bright pink, which in a second winter YLG I'd expect to be more of a flesh colour.
Alexander Stöhr
Well-known member
Hello,
do you have more pictures? They could well allow a more confident judgement of the greater covert pattern.
If forced, I would opt for a 2cy Lesser black backed Gull by uniform dark greater coverts with bold barred inner ones, cold yellow bill (some YLG have deeper, slightly warmer yellow bills) and dark back with a sootybrown wash.
do you have more pictures? They could well allow a more confident judgement of the greater covert pattern.
If forced, I would opt for a 2cy Lesser black backed Gull by uniform dark greater coverts with bold barred inner ones, cold yellow bill (some YLG have deeper, slightly warmer yellow bills) and dark back with a sootybrown wash.
martyrynin
Guest
Out of interest I stuck the photos into Picture Bird. It definitely struggles with lower res photos, but it's caught between Caspian and Herring gull.
Given the location the photo was taken, I'll stick to my guns with Herring gull.
When photos are low res photos like this, is it better to focus more on structural differences rather than plummage?
The body shape looks off for Lesser black-backed imo
Given the location the photo was taken, I'll stick to my guns with Herring gull.
When photos are low res photos like this, is it better to focus more on structural differences rather than plummage?
The body shape looks off for Lesser black-backed imo
