Herring Gull- Zilvermeeuw (argentatus & argenteus)

(last update: December 15, 2014 )

Coordinators:
Jean-Michel Sauvage (France)
Mars Muusse (the Netherlands)

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Herring Gull plumages:

hg 1cy July
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hg 1cy September
hg 1cy October
hg 1cy November
hg 1cy December

hg 2cy January
hg 2cy February
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hg 2cy April
hg 2cy May
hg 2cy June
hg 2cy July
hg 2cy August
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hg 2cy October
hg 2cy November
hg 2cy December

hg 3cy January
hg 3cy February
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hg 3cy April
hg 3cy May
hg 3cy June
hg 3cy July
hg 3cy August
hg 3cy September
hg 3cy October
hg 3cy November
hg 3cy December

hg sub-ad January
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hg ad January
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hg ad October
hg ad November
hg ad December

Herring Gull adults December

Noordwijk, December 15 2014 when tons of starfishes and ensis beached after storm. 15.000+ gulls present.

Introduction

This website deals with the Herring Gulls of the taxa argentatus and argenteus. Argenteus is an abundant breeding species on Iceland, Britain, NW France, Belgium, the Netherlands and N Germany. The taxon argentatus breeds in NE Europe, from Denmark, the coast of the Baltic Sea, Scandinavia and coast of the White Sea. In the centre of the breeding range (Denmark and the NW German coast), birds show intermediate characteristics, indicating there is a cline in argenteus-argentatus. Argenteus in Western Europe is pale-backed, slightly smaller and with relatively much black in the wing-tip; argentatus in the NE Europe is larger, slightly darker on upper-parts and show less black in the wing-tip.
Due to the large breeding range, there is much intra-specific variation in argentatus, with most large, powerful birds in the northern populations, showing the most darkest upper-parts, longest wing and most white in the outer-wing. In this region, some populations may hold substantial number of yellow-legged argentatus. (referred to as "Finnmark yellow-legged argentatus"). In adult plumage, the black sub-terminal spot on P5 is often lacking or strongly reduced to a diffuse streak, broken at the centre. Sometimes P6 lacks black as well. 
In the Baltic region, other yellow-legged argentatus populations occur ("Baltic yellow-legged argentatus"), with adults showing even brighter yellow legs in summer and the upper-parts only slightly darker than West European argenteus, still much paler than Yellow-legged Gull (michahellis). Those Baltic argentatus often show a black sub-terminal spot on P5 in adult plumage.
On these web-pages, we largely follow P.J. Grant: "Gulls, a guide to identification" and E.K Barth's publication as Contribution No. 86, Zoological Museum, University of Oslo: "The circumpolar systematics of Larus argentatus and Larus fuscus with special reference to the Norwegian populations".

Tables & Graph

The differences between typical western argenteus from the U.K. and northern Scandinavian argentatus is rather straightforward on primary pattern P5-P10. However, there is a gradient and overlap in features of birds from populations in northern Germany, Denmark and southern Norway.  Extensive research on the P10 pattern of Scandinavian argentatus was done for Norwegian birds by the Norwegian ornithologist Edvard Barth, and is presented in the table in the Adult January Section.

Adult argenteus from the Netherlands and Belgium have finished the complete moult, bur argentatus from Scandinavia may still show active moult in the outer primaries. The table below present the primary moult stage during December.

Long term analysis for primary moult score (PMS).

Table above, data for the Netherlands (2000-2010), results for autumn & winter (aggregated week): number of new, fully grown primaries in adults.
0 = no new primaries visible. So either P1 still old, or P1 dropped, but the very tip still not visible.
1 = P1 longest new primary. Range between "at least the tip of P1 is visible" until "tip of P2 still shorter than P1".
2 = P2 longest new primary. 3 = etc.

Above: Scatter Plot for PMS in adult Herring Gulls throughout the year. Longest new primary is classified "fully grown". Sample size is 3.271 birds. Birds scored on NEW primaries.

The first date in our analysis on adult Herring Gulls is 02 May 2006 (week 18 - starting 30 April), on which we already found birds with missing primaries (some birds had already shed 3 primaries). This group of actively moulting birds, 43% of the sample, must have started the complete moult somewhere around mid-April and probably several birds may have started earlier.

The last scoring day has been 03 December, when still 20% of the sampled birds had to grow P10. The final stage of the complete moult for all birds has to be somewhere after mid-December. On 03 December we scored 59 birds with P10 fully grown, 13 birds with P9 fully grown and 2 birds with P8 fully grown. They all had no old primaries left.

The first time a new primary (P1) was visible, was also on 02 May 2006 (week 18 - starting 30 April). In this week, 90% of the sample did not show new primaries, but 9% did. Four birds in the sample of 115 birds alreday had P2 as longest primary (fully grown). As soon as the tip of P1 was visible, this was automatically scored "fully grown", and this was the case in 7 birds. For the other primaries to be scored fully grown, they had to exceed the previous primary in length (so P2 fully grown, only from when it is longer than P1).

LINEAR REGRESSION

Onset of primary moult can best be illustrated by a sinusoid for the first few weeks and last weeks, but there appears to be linear dependency over much of the central moult period.

LINEAR REGRESSION FOR OLD REMAINING PRIMARIES

Complete sample: Linear regression (n = 1329, R2= 0.935, sign: P<0,000)
PMS = -0,379* WEEK + 16,324.

LINEAR REGRESSION FOR NEW FULLY GROWN PRIMARIES

Complete sample: Linear regression (n = 3271 R2= 0.927, sign: P<0,000)
PMS = 0,322* WEEK - 6,071.

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Noordwijk, December 15 2014 when tons of starfishes and ensis beached after storm. 15.000+ gulls present.