Photo 7: LBBG adult, Vuurtorenvlakte, Maasvlakte, the Netherlands, March 30 2002.

An adult bird found dead, hit by a car. Early in the breeding season, just after arriving at the colony, the birds are careless and not willing to leave the occupied territories easily. Quite some birds are killed or injured by cars and trucks. This bird died probably somewhere mid-March and it shows the common abrasion at the primaries. P10 to p7 are worn at the tips. Note the black mark on the outer-web of p4 and the broad black sub-terminal band on p5. It's not uncommon to find small black feathers in the primary coverts in full-adult LBBG, as this bird shows at arrow a. These feathers are hard to detect and only visible in a completely stretched wing.

The stage of abrasion in the coverts is hard to tell since the feather were wet when this picture was taken.