The following bird was seen at Rainton Meadows DWT in Durham yesterday (13th
April) and was put out as a Yellow-legged Gull, it was noticed however that the
bird didn't look quite right and had a few things wrong with it. The
Distribution of black on primaries is wrong for Lesser black-backed Gull and
would also be exceptional for pure Yellow-legged Gull. The upperparts tone
doesn't look right for Yellow-legged Gull and is more like that of a paler
Lesser black-backed Gull. The orbital ring is not as bright as should be for
Yellow-legged Gull and is closer to Lesser black-backed Gull. Therefore it was
concluded this bird is in fact a Herring x Lesser black-backed Gull hybrid.
Thanks to Mark Newsome for comments that were used in this blog post.
Pictures of bird HERE, also see an additional photograph of
the same bird below:
(Lesser black-backed x Herring Gull hybrid - © Derek Charlton)
