lusitanius Yellow-legged Gull

(last update: 10-12-2013)

Yellow-legged Gull lusitanius 1cy September 06 2009, Xove / Burela, Galicia, Spain. Picture Gabriel Martin.

No tertials or wing-coverts replaced & all scapulars still juvenile: bird still in juvenile plumage. This 1cy bird show some features that can be considered "typical" for juvenile lusitanius: like the long wing-projection; the piano-key pattern on the inner and central greater coverts created by the deep notching; the rather plain tertials with thin pale fringes (but obvious notching when the fringes are fresh as in this bird); weak gonydeal angle on the lower mandible resulting in not really a strong bill (particualrly in females). The elegant jizz, at least more elegant than the stocky Mediterranean michahellis, in combination with the late moult timing, make these lusitanius birds sometimes really hard to separate from from LBBG.