Monday, 31 July 2017

Juvenile YLG

After an uneventful patch visit on Sunday (the drake Scaup was still on Ferry Lane Lake, but there was little else of note), I headed back for another session at Cotham Landfill. There were fewer gulls present than the day before, and rather than trying to count Yellow-legs, I spent some time actually looking at them properly. 

Best was a nice, and reasonably close, juvenile Yellow-leg. Everything appeared to be there, the icing on the cake being several replaced scapulars with dark anchor-shaped markings - this early in the year a very pro-juv YLG feature! Other features included dark tertials with neat, narrow fringes (only extending halfway along the feather edge); white rump and tail with a neat black terminal band; near-absent pale window on the inner primaries; long-winged appearance; and a dusky mask around the eye on a pale(ish) head. The bill could perhaps have been heavier though. It was also quite large and aggressive...






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