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Gulls (possibly yellow legged and 2 lesser black backed gulls)- Gran Canaria 15/02/2019 (1 Viewer)

Nukka

Member
England
I'm not great on my gulls. I'm thinking the photo of the gull with it's wings opened is a yellow legged and the two gulls are lesser black backed however I'm not 100% sure.
 

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Any chance you could help me work out what features to use to specifically exclude wintering L. f. graellsii? The mantle colour just looks so similar to me between a dark YLG and a light LBBG.

Am I just misjudging the mantle colour, maybe due to lighting? Or maybe is it the bill strength (I also find this pretty hard to use to separate them)? Or just general likelihood?

Thanks!
 
Any chance you could help me work out what features to use to specifically exclude wintering L. f. graellsii? The mantle colour just looks so similar to me between a dark YLG and a light LBBG.

Am I just misjudging the mantle colour, maybe due to lighting? Or maybe is it the bill strength (I also find this pretty hard to use to separate them)? Or just general likelihood?

Thanks!
I'm afraid I have no such knowledge, but I would be keen to know what the answer might be if at all possible. One point I have read somewhere is that with Yellow-legged gull the red spot on the lower mandible is large. Even to the extent it sometimes extends even as far as part of the upper mandible. Looking at the photo's that seems to be the case here. Mind you, as to the validity of this supposed feature, I cannot say. I am sure there are gull experts on here that might be able to elucidate on the matter
 
all are YLG. note that canarian michahellis have a slightly darker mantle than european ones. bills are very strong and heads are completely white - that's what essentially separates them from the generally more light built LBBG wintering there. also the slightly shorter primary projection.
 
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