Last update of this page: 26-10-03 16:40

By October, many Lesser Black-backed Gulls have left the colonies and surrounding feeding grounds near the Maasvlakte (the Netherlands) and migrate south towards France, Portugal and Morocco. Many first winter birds present in the Netherlands have moved in from northern breeding grounds in Southern Scandinavia: south tip of Norway (Vest-Agder, Kristiansand), SW Sweden (Bohuslän to Malmö), northern Germany (Helgoland) and Denmark. At least these intermedius LBBG may stay in the Netherlands in winter, as proved a Swedish ringed individual, seen at December 21 2000 at Westkapelle. During late fall and early winter we did some surveys in the south of the Netherlands at the Maasvlakte (port of Rotterdam) and along the coast at Westkapelle, 65 km south of the Maasvlakte (see map). More details can be found at the distribution Section. 

The juvenile - first winter Lesser Black-backed Gulls present in October originate from all directions: Belgium and Britain (resembling the race graellsii, see for instance picture 4), local Dutch LBBG (known as Dutch intergrades, like the colour-ringed individual in picture 3) and Scandinavian LBBGs of the race intermedius.