This is the best candidate I have had yet. Looks good to me, though a slightly broader band on P5 and a heavier head would be nice... Call seemed spot on for YLG as it came over my head. Refound it on filter beds, luckily - very yellow legs. What do you think?
6 comments:
Birding is bizarre sometimes... Only this morning I was leaving a comment below that it might be third time lucky for a YLG, having found two herring x LBBG hybrids already in Lothian this winter. Well this one is much more likely to be a YLG or a YLG hybrid - the call was spot on for yellow-legged and the custard like legs were very obvious even at range. Wing tip pattern maybe leans more toward the hybrid option however...
Geoff
Well done on unearthing another Geoff; I did not read your comments before looking at the pics, albeit not in any great detail yet; nice to be able to see the wing tip pattern in some detail on shot flying right, my feeling was the band on P5 there may fall short of the width which you'd want to see? I can only go by the photos published by others but most I have looked at look really solid. Like this comparative image:
http://www.artportalen.se/birds/gallery_imageinfo.asp?imageID=175341
Can't argue with voice or black in outer primaries, seems to be within range for latter, but also seems to me to have a rather "slight" jizz, *impression* of slender wings in first shot and hint of LBB profile in the last - may just be my subjectivity and inherent bias against accepting that these can really occur here!
My final elements of doubt are on the leg colour, is custard sufficent for a mid-Feb adult, the ones thrown up by google are often almost a custard skin colour (made in a pan, not out of a tin!), a really deep yellow with hint of orange. But what do I know, whenever I see these (Spain) I tend not to look at all these details.
I agree Stephen that it almost certainly a hybrid. Just the best one yet and an encouragement to keep trying!
Geoff
Thanks Geoff. You will be aware of the earlier histories of "yellow-legged" dark mantled birds from LBRs, many winter records particularly from Dalmeny which included for example in 2008: "Dark-mantled birds were recorded at Dalmeny 8 Mar, 23 & 30 Nov (2), 7 & 29 Dec;
these might relate to hybrids, possibly with Lesser Black-backed Gull, though this could
not be confirmed." The first and only accepted record of Yellow-legged Gull in Lothian is the adult on 2/1/07, at Seafield.
What happened to the YLG photographed by Tristan Reid at Musselburgh in August 2006?
I didn't know about that one Stuart. Quite easy to find the pics on soc using google. No open wing shot there though. Wonder if Tristan R has any more shots? Geoff
Post a Comment