(3 images) sub-adult LBBG, October 05 2002, Dannes / Boulogne-sur-Mer, NW France.

A bird with two moult waves in the wing. The inner primaries have been replaced, with P1-P3 grown, P3 almost fully grown and already longer than P2 and P4 growing. P5 and P6 are slightly older, probably moulted last spring. The outer primaries P7-P10 were moulted last autumn and now appear brown bleached and the small tips worn away. P10 has a clear mirror just reaching the inner-web and reaching the outer-web over a longer distance. Note the white crescent on P5 (between the black sub-terminal band and the grey inner-web), which is lacking on P6. The primaries have been numbered in the bottom picture.

In the wing-coverts, the complete moult is only in a very early stage: the inner median coverts have been shed and the upper tertial is missing. Tertial #2 is recently replaced. Most other wing-coverts and tertials look very abraded with the tips worn away. The older feathers show a brown hue.