Yellow-legged
Gull - Larus michahellis
(last update: October 08 2013)
Coordinators:
Delfín González
Gabriel Martín
Antonio Gutierrez
Amir Ben Dov
Mars Muusse
Larus michahellis - 2CY December
This website deals with the Yellow-legged Gull taxon michahellis, which is a common migrant from July to December in NW Europe. After extensive expansion of the breeding population during the last three decades, it nowadays can be found breeding in Belgium, the Netherlands and Britain in mixed couples with both Herring Gull (argenteus) and Lesser Black-backed Gull (graellsii). There are subtle differences between the populations from the Mediterranean, Atlantic coast of Portugal and Morocco and from the islands in the Atlantic. Most pronounced differences can be found in the taxon atlantis, now regarded as full species by some authors and birds along the Atlantic coast of the Iberian peninsular: lusitanius. Both atlantis and lusitanius are treated in their own sections on this website.
Yellow-legged Gull michahellis 2CY ITNJ December 05 2006, Bienne, Switzerland. Picture: Stephane Aubry.
Yellow-legged
Gull michahellis 2CY HES M000660 December 21 2005, Neuchâtel, Switzerland. Picture: Stephane Aubry.
Yellow-legged
Gull michahellis CEMPA MN1118 2CY, December 15 2013, Cascais, Lisboa, Portugal. Photo: António A. Gonçalves.
presumed hybrid Yellow-legged Gull michahellis x Herring Gull argenteus M.T 1CY-2CY, August 2013 & December 2014, the Netherlands. Picture: Herman Bouman & Merijn Loeve.
Yellow-legged Gull lusitanius 2CY, December 04 2011, Gijon, Spain. Photo: Iván Díaz Pallarés.
Yellow-legged Gull michahellis type 2CY, December 05 2014, Sevastopol, Crimea, Black Sea. Picture: Vitaly Giragosov.