Southern Atlantic Yellow-legged Gulls -- Southern atlantis -- Juveniles/First-years

The structural characteristics identified for the adult Atlantic Yellow-legged Gulls apply to the first-years. A heavy blunt-ended bill, bulky chest and broad wings are all frequently found in the young Southern Atlantic Yellow-legged Gulls and weaker features in the young Cantabrican Atlantic Yellow-legged Gulls. All juveniles show flesh-coloured legs. The features for the Southern Atlantic Yellow-legged Gulls are summarised below.

Features of all birds include:

General plumage and bare part features (80%+ of birds) include:

Other general tendencies (55-79% of birds) include:

Seasonal changes are:

Overall, there is a tendency towards graellsii with dark grey-brown mantles, tertials with dark grey-brown centres and narrow pale fringes, dusky head markings, all-black bills and gleaming white tails. However, some features do not match graellsii well but do match michahellis as described by Dubois & Yésou (1984): the inner wing is frequently rather weakly striped, a contrasting underwing pattern is often found and there is usually at least an indistinct pale primary window.

Regional variations (within the dark form) are tendencies for:

 

First-years of other forms

Detailed Statistics for First-years - Tables 6-8 - features perched and in flight and head and body streaking

Moult in First-summers - Table 9

Blue font indicates updates since the paper published on 19 October 2001

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