Juvenile Yellow-legged Gull at Newhaven
another Yellow-legged Gull sporting a rather obvious ventral bulge
Juvenile Lesser Black-backed Gull and Juvenile Gull sp. at Newhaven
Juvenile Gull sp. at Newhaven
Characters all suggestive of it being a juvenile Yellow-legged Gull include its large size compared to both juvenile Herring and Lesser Black-backed Gulls, its hefty bill with pronounced gonys, something of a dark mask, at least one of its second-generation scapulars shows basal cross-barring, its tertial patterning, its brownish-coloured upperparts and its underwings were seen to be rather dark. However, on the flip side, it had a very snouty appearance courtesy of its long sloping forehead, never-ending lores and its bill appearing long and rather slender for much of its length being two-toned with its basal two-thirds appearing paler grey, its small-looking head lacked that white-headed appearance and at times it had an overall rather awkward jizz... which has me wondering whether it's possible to safely exclude the possibility of it being the product of those mixed Caspian/Herring/Yellow-legged Gull colonies from central Europe?
Juvenile Caspian Gull Poland 9th August 2010 (Michal Rycak)
A pure Caspian Gull but sharing a (somewhat) similar head/bill profile to the Newhaven Gull
Juvenile Yellow-legged Gull on Sicily (Jamie Partridge)
Laurence Pitcher very kindly forwarded this image of a juvenile Yellow-legged Gull that albeit whiter-headed does share the very snouty appearance, long sloping forehead and never-ending lores.
