Herring Gull

Age Class:

Herring Gull 1cy

Herring Gull 2cy

Herring Gull 3cy

Herring Gull 4cy+ and ad


Individuals:

Herring Gull with michahellis lookalike traits - 1cy

Herring Gull with michahellis lookalike traits - 1cy

Herring Gull with michahellis lookalike traits - 1cy

Herring Gull with michahellis lookalike traits - 3cy

Herring Gull with cachinnans lookalike traits - 3cy

Herring Gull with smithsonianus lookalike traits - 3cy

Herring Gull with smithsonianus lookalike traits - 3cy

Herring Gull with thayeri lookalike wing pattern - ad


Themes:

Herring Gull covered with oil

Herring Gull with abnormal small body size

Herring Gull with dark iris

Herring Gull with dark iris

Herring Gull with yellowish legs

Herring Gull with extreme bare part colours

Herring Gull with sooty-brown 2cy plumage

Herring Gull with extensive dusky head-streaking

Herring Gull with extensive dusky head-streaking

Herring Gull with extra dark upperparts and a "string of pearls"

Herring Gull with extra small white apical spots


Herring Gulls with unusual pale plumage or leucisme

Herring Gull with deformations or aberrant bare part colours

Herring Gull with colour aberrations or leucisme - 3cy: February

Herring Gull with colour aberrations or leucisme - ad

Herring Gull with colour aberrations or leucisme - ad: October

Herring Gull with colour aberrations or leucisme - ad: December

Herring Gull with colour aberrations or leucisme - ad: December


argentatus Herring Gulls with extensive white coloration

These individuals represent paler Herring Gull-like birds. Compared to normal-looking Herring Gulls they have paler primaries, paler tail band, and more barred tertials, less black along the feather shaft in the scapulars, fainter facial mask and often paler base to the bill. All these features point towards some influence from Glaucous Gull genes and some people argue that this kind of phenotypic variation result from introgression of Glaucous Gull genes, at present or in the past, along the northern parts of the Herring Gull range. However, as we also see such extreme individuals with extensive white coloration among local breeding birds in Denmark one could also argue that these are only pale extremes of the variation within the argentatus subspecies of Herring Gull.

Herring Gull with pale plumage and/or leucisme - 1cy

Herring Gull with pale plumage and/or leucisme - 2cy: January

Herring Gull with pale plumage and/or leucisme - 2cy: January

Herring Gull with pale plumage and/or leucisme - 2cy: April

Herring Gull with pale plumage and/or leucisme - 2cy: April

Herring Gull with pale plumage and/or leucisme - 3cy: June


Possible and probable Caspian Gull x Herring Gull hybrids

Please note that these hybrid identifications are only tentative as the phenotypic variation both in Caspian Gull and Herring Gull is very extensive and all the questioned characters are well the individual variation of both species.

Caspian Gull x Herring Gull, 1cy, 30.12.2010, Odense Kanal

Caspian Gull x Herring Gull, ad, 30.10.2007, Aarhus East Harbour

Caspian Gull x Herring Gull, ad, 2.-3.12.2010, Aarhus Harbour

Caspian Gull x Herring Gull, ad, 28.11.2011, Aarhus Harbour

Possible and probable Lesser Black-backed Gull x Herring Gull hybrids

Lesser Black-backed Gull x Herring Gull in Grenaa Harbour

Lesser Black-backed Gull x Herring Gull on Mandø

Lesser Black-backed Gull x Herring Gull in Kalø Vig

Lesser Black-backed Gull x Herring Gull in Fjellerup Strand

Lesser Black-backed Gull x Herring Gull in Aarhus Harbour

Lesser Black-backed Gull x Herring Gull in Aarhus Harbour