Herring Gull (argentatus & argenteus)

(last update: February 11, 2013)

Herring Gull (argentatus) KW25 1CY, December 14 2012, Amsterdam, the Netherlands. Picture: Jan Zorgdrager.

Bird from N Russia. Yellow KW52 plastic ring. Ringed as pullus in July 2012, at Kandalakshskiy Nature Reserve, Severnoe lesnichestvo, isl. Lunnye, Murmansk O. Russia (67.05 N 32.29 E). Few scaps replaced, but otherwise in juvenile plumage.

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. The juvenile and 2cy plumage are not described. However, this bird strongly resembles the argentatus from Finnmark Scandinavia, entering the Netherlands by mid-winter.