Lesser Black-backed Gulls? 28.03.2022 Juist, Ostfriesland, Germany (1 Viewer)

[Andy Hurley]

A friend asked for help in identifying these Gulls. They seem too dark, (esp left) to be European Herring Gulls, but the all have pink legs. I thought two were graellsii and one possibly Baltic, until I saw the legs. They are all the same size. Not big enough for GBbGull. Using the Shelduck as a reference, they seem to be the LBbG/Herring size spectrum.

Any ideas?

Thanks very much

 

[lou salomon]

yes, all LBBG, probably all intermedius or intermedius-graellsii intergrades (breeders from Netherlands to Denmark). the legs still can be pinkish in subadults although I suspect the quality of the photo is playing a trick here.

 

[stevethehydra]

Gull leg colour seems to be strangely unclear very often in photos, especially long-distance shots. To me these look more yellow than pink - but in my recent thread here Gull, Yorkshire coast UK I also saw that gull's legs as yellow and others saw them as pink!

Regardless of leg colour, these are clearly LBBGs on size, structure and mantle colour (which is variable even within subspecies, but is also affected by angle of light, so the left-hand bird may not even be as much darker than the other two as it looks in this one photo).

 

[Andy Hurley]

yes, all LBBG, probably all intermedius or intermedius-graellsii intergrades (breeders from Netherlands to Denmark). the legs still can be pinkish in subadults although I suspect the quality of the photo is playing a trick here.

Gull leg colour seems to be strangely unclear very often in photos, especially long-distance shots. To me these look more yellow than pink - but in my recent thread here Gull, Yorkshire coast UK I also saw that gull's legs as yellow and others saw them as pink!

Regardless of leg colour, these are clearly LBBGs on size, structure and mantle colour (which is variable even within subspecies, but is also affected by angle of light, so the left-hand bird may not even be as much darker than the other two as it looks in this one photo).

Thank you very much Lou and Steve. Very interesting to know about leg colour...the vagaries of digital photography...