I frequently see on UK bird observatory sighting lists, references to 'Yellow-Legged Gulls'. What are these?- I've never been clear if they are a version/subspcies of Herring Gull or something in their own right- these references only began to appear a couple of decades ago.
I frequently see on UK bird observatory sighting lists, references to 'Yellow-Legged Gulls'. What are these?- I've never been clear if they are a version/subspcies of Herring Gull or something in their own right- these references only began to appear a couple of decades ago.
They're part of the Herring Gull species 'complex' - a former subspecies now promoted to full species status, found mainly in the Mediterranean and on the Atlantic coast of France and the Iberian peninsula/North Africa.
Yellow-legged Gull, for many years regarded as a subspecies of Herring Gull, is now regarded as a full species. Occasional breeder in the UK I believe, but more frequent in Southern Europe.
Hope I've got all this right, as I am easily confused about anything that isn't a duck.
Thanks for the confirmation of what I thought was the situation. As ZG said it/they had yellow legs, and the colour of the mantle looks a similar shade of grey as per Maguari's photo, might these Knowlsey birds-or the one under discussion, be Yellow-legged? The ones behind look similar too.
Thanks for the confirmation of what I thought was the situation. As ZG said it/they had yellow legs, and the colour of the mantle looks a similar shade of grey as per Maguari's photo, might these Knowlsey birds-or the one under discussion, be Yellow-legged? The ones behind look similar too.
I'm still saying lesser black-backed gull beacuse of the yellow legs, but this thread provides an excuse to go back to Knowsley and take a closer look,
G
Gully
I see absolutely nothing wrong for LBBG, of the subspecies graellsii. The statement that yellow legs are impossible for Herring gulls is by the way incorrect. Birds of the Baltic region very regularly have legs varying from yellowish to yellow...
I believe that there is a hierarchy among those with ornithological interests.
At the top, proper birdwatchers (or if you prefer to miss a syllable, birders). Naturally this group includes all the ZooChat members who have contributed to this thread
Then twitchers, who claim to be able to recognise the rarest vagrants but they can't recognise themselves as twitchers, because they hate all twitchers passionately
Finally the lowest of the low, gullers, who infest rubbish dumps and similar places and only twitch gulls
Maybe it's because our island status makes them so ubiquitous, but British wildlife enthusiasts often fail to take on board just how remarkable gulls are.
Long-lived, widely-travelled, omnivorous and smart, they're possibly more like our own species than any other bird that I can think of.
G
Gully
Which doesn't change the fact that we're looking at a Larus fuscus graellsii (aka British LBBG). And, for the record (I completely agree with you IanRRobinson), gulls are among the most interesting birds to study!
