Herring Gull (argentatus & argenteus)
(last update: February 11, 2013)
Herring Gull (argentatus) KP51 2CY, November 11 2002, IJmuiden, the Netherlands (52.27N-04.33E).
Ringed as pullus on July 08 2001 with plastic white KP51 and metal RUM Moskwa DB399706 at Dobrushka Island, Kandalakshskiy NR, Murmansk, Russia (67,05N, 32,29E). Male.
Recoveries:
2cy 2002 11 11 Ijmuiden strand NH NH NL 52.27 N 4.33 E M Muusse
2cy 2002 11 8 Westkapelle Zeedijk ZL ZL NL 51.32 N 3.26 E P Wolf
A very powerful nominate argentatus, ringed along the coast of the White Sea in the Kandalaksha Nature Reserve (67.15N,32.30E), Murmansk District, Russia in a project of Vitaly Bianki. KP51 was seen earlier this week at Westkapelle, SW Netherlands. Last February a bird in complete juvenile plumage KP14 from the same project was found at the beach of IJmuiden as well. As can be seen in the image, this is a strong powerful 2cy argentatus with limited replacement of wing-coverts in the partial moult: the two inner greater coverts and the two upper tertials have been replaced for third generation feathers (second generation-like in their pattern), all other coverts are second generation. There are still no plain grey scapulars in the back and the head is almost completely pale.
It's
a strong bird, with an elongated facial expression, typical for northern argentatus.
Note also the very contrastingly patterned inner primaries. The P10
primary is clearly longer than p9 and the over-all impression is that of a
long-winged bird. Many thanks to Vitaly, who wrote a paper about the ring
recoveries of his project, which can be order at the Bird Ringing Centre
of Russia. If it is out of print, you can ask how to obtain this report in
the Centre after mid-August 2002 by e-mail: ring@bird.msk.ru.
The title: "Marking of Herring Gulls (Larus argentatus)
with plastic rings." In this book you find ring projects and
recoveries in Russia and adjacent countries 1988-1999. The report is in
Russia, with an English summary.
From this region, Kleinschmidt describes a large, very long-winged Larus argentatus major breeding from the SE Baltic towards the White Sea. It's a pale grey mantled and partly yellow-footed Herring Gull in adult plumage. Nowadays, the possible taxon major is usually included in argentatus argentatus.
