Yellow-legged
Gull - Larus michahellis
(last update: October 08 2013)
Coordinators:
Delfín González
Gabriel Martín
Antonio Gutierrez
Amir Ben Dov
Mars Muusse
Yellow-legged Gull michahellis 2CY, August 25 2000, Etaples / Boulogne-sur-Mer, NW France.
Another
example showing the secondary moult stage nicely. By July, most of the
secondaries have been shed (click the thumbnail for the secondary moult stage of July michahellis) but in the
majority of the birds, a small block of juvenile secondaries remain at the
inner half of the arm. Secondaries are moulted in descendant order, S1 is
the first moulted feather (the outermost secondary) and in a wave, new
secondaries grown inwards. The two or three innermost secondaries, often
hidden by the tertials, are moulted simultaneously and finally the small
block of juvenile secondaries is shed as well. Now, by the end of August,
it's this group of secondaries which are renewed last in line and as can
be seen in the left picture, the gap is closed from two directions.
As in many michahellis, p9 is almost fully grown and p10 is halfway
it's final length. The complete tail has been replaced.