Textual Notes:
Brief summary of features of juvenile/first-year Southern Atlantic Yellow-legged Gulls:
Photographs:
Playa de las Americas, Tenerife, Canaries, August 1998, juvenile perched
Playa de las Americas, Tenerife, Canaries, August 1998, juvenile in flight
El Médano, Tenerife, Canaries, August 2000, juvenile in flight
Las Galletas, Tenerife, 6 August 2000, juvenile in flight
Taken in poor light. Shows very dusky underbody and hooded head. The rump is a contrasting white.
Santa Cruz, La Palma, Canaries, August 2000, juvenile in flight
Camara de Lobos, Madeira, 30 March 2002, first-summer in flight
An advanced first-summer with P1-P2 missing and much fading of mantle, very pale legs, tail band fading, white head except for dark eye spot, sparsely marked breast and belly.
Camara de Lobos, Madeira, 30 March 2002, first-summer perched
Same bird as above. Very faded appearance. Bill all black still, legs are a very pale flesh-straw.
Funchal, Madeira, 29 March 2002, first-summer in flight
Quite a dingy individual with quite heavy streaking on breast and belly, no pale primary panel on inner primaries, rather uniform underwing. Primary moult has yet to start: 22% had started at this time (missing no more than P1/P2).
Funchal, Madeira, 26 March 2002, two first-summer in flight
Upper bird shows typical reddish tinge for this time of year, a weak outer bar on the inner wing, moult to P1 on the inner primaries, a quite pale head and a black bill. The lower bird shows quite dusky uppertail coverts and rump. This is unusual for the time of year.
Funchal, Madeira, 29 March 2002, first-summer in flight
A fairly advanced individual with the first signs of grey on the back and scapulars. The uppertail coverts and rump are quiet white and the broad tail band is still complete. Moult is to P2 on the inner primaries which show no pale primary panel.
Funchal, Madeira, 31 March 2002, first-summer at rest
Bill remains virtually all black, head quite pale except for eye patch, typical ruddy tinge at this time of year, old tertials are rather graellsii like.
Camara de Lobos, Madeira, 30 March 2002, first-summer perched
A rather duskier individual with all-black bill. Short legs. Old tertial is graellsii like. New one has much more white on tip.
Funchal, Madeira, 26 March 2002, two first-summers perched with Lesser-black Backed Gull
Comparison of LBBG (probably intermedius) with two YLG. Size is similar but YLG, particularly on the left, show stronger bill, head and chest. The YLG have a reddish tinge to the mantle and many second generation feathers in the scapulars. Telling YLG from LBBG is more difficult on Madeira than in say Tenerife (Canaries) because a number of the YLG are quite lightweight.
Camara de Lobos, Madeira, 30 March 2002, first-summer in flight with first-summer Iceland Gull
Comparison of first-summer YLG with Iceland Gull L. glaucoides first-summer. The YLG has only one bar on the inner wing and a reddish tinge. The size of the YLG is only slightly greater than that of the Iceland Gull although the head, chest, neck and bill are solider in the YLG. The wings of the Iceland Gull are narrower. A Mediterranean Yellow-legged Gull would be closer in size to Glaucous Gull L. hyperboreus and hence considerably larger than Iceland Gull in direct comparison.
Camara de Lobos, Madeira, 30 March 2002, first-summer Iceland Gull in flight
Closer view of the Iceland Gull in the comparison with YLG above.
Agadir, Morocco, April 1998, first-summer perched
Agadir, Morocco, April 1998, one second-summer and one first-summer perched
Agadir, Morocco, April 1998, first-summer in flight
Agadir, Morocco, April 2000, one first-summer on edge of roof-top colony at the Amadil Beach Hotel
Essaouira, Morocco, April 2000, first-summer in flight
Los Canarios, La Palma, Canaries, 24 April 2003, first-summer in flight
In moult with two inner primaries (P1/P2) missing. Bill is quite long and slender. Underside of tail, belly and breast are quite dusky. Underwing coverts show some contrast.
Santa Cruz, La Palma, Canaries, 21 April 2003, 2 first-summer, one with wings open
One with wings open is also missing P1/P2 in primary moult. Its primaries are very uniform with no pale window showing. There are no adult grey feathers on mantle and bill looks to be still all black. Subterminal band is a complete rather narrow black. The sitting bird appears to be more advanced with a pale area at the base of its bill, a pale head and paler scapulars.
Santa Cruz, La Palma, Canaries, 21 April 2003, 2 first-summer perched
A clear difference between these birds is the bill which is 30% black (at tip) on bird in front and all black on the bird in the rear. The advanced bird in the front has a paler, more mottled plumage and a yellowish tinge to the feet. The retarded bird in the rear has a more uniform greyish plumage and less hint of yellow in the legs.
Tazacorte, La Palma, Canaries, 22 April 2003, first-summer in flight
This bird shows a bold white upper tail with an extensive dark subterminal band extending up the sides of the tail as found for Azorean atlantis by Dubois. There is a pale area at the base of the bill and the head is still fairly dusky.
The three below could have been included under second years. However, it is useful to place on record here the slow rate of maturity of some atlantis.
Las Galletas, Tenerife, 31 July 2000, first-summer in flight
This shows how retarded some first-summers are even at over one year old. The head is full hooded and there is heavy streaking on the breast and sides of the belly. The tail is in moult.
Las Galletas, Tenerife, 6 August 2000, first-summer in flight
This bird is still in secondary moult. However, grey is appearing on the back and the upper-tail coverts are very clean.
Las Galletas, Tenerife, 6 August 2000, first-summer in flight
P10 is still growing. The base of the bill is pale but the head is till quite dusky and there is extensive mottling on the breast and the belly. The underwing is fairly uniform -- a feature typical of this age.
More birds of this age are found under second years.
© Copyright Nick Rossiter 1999-2003.
email: nick.rossiter1 at btinternet.com
