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 3CY, August 09 2003, Etaples, France (50.42N, 1.34E).
An example of a delayed moulting individual, delayed in primary moult score compared to average 3CY michahellis.
| Primary moult score of 3CY michahellis Yellow-legged Gull, at Etaples, NW France (50.43N, 01.37E) on August 11 2003. | |||||
| . | P5 fg | P6 fg | P7 fg | P8 fg | n: |
| P8-P10 | 5 | - | - | - | 5 |
| P9-P10 | 3 | 24 | - | - | 27 |
| P10 old | - | 10 | 6 | - | 16 |
| no old P | - | - | 2 | - | 2 |
| n: | 8 | 34 | 8 | - | 50 |
| n = 50; m new P = 6.0; SD new P = 0.57; m old P = 1.7; SD old P = 0.70. | |||||
In 3CY birds, the old second generation flight-feathers are replaced by new, more adult-like third generation feathers. This is most obvious in the (outer) primaries. The old second generation P10 is brown, abraded and will be replaced by glossy-black fresh third generation P10 showing an obvious mirror. The primary moult stage in this bird: P7-10 are old second generation and P4 is full-grown. The landing bird is a 3CY Lesser Black-backed Gull, showing a small gap in the primaries (not uncommon in LBBG), with P6 almost fully grown and P8-P10 still old second generation.
