European Herring Gull

Among the large gulls, the Silver group is a complex group found on both the North American and Eurasian continents. Currently, five different taxa are recognized in this group, although 1 or 3 species may be recognized according to classifications. For the IOC followed by oiseaux.net, 3 are recognized: the European argentatus, the Asian vegae and the American smithsonianus. This sheet is devoted to the species Larus argentatus, which is itself subdivided into two subspecies, the nominal argentatus from northern Europe and argenteus from western Europe, including France. Consequently, the detailed description below will refer to the latter. The European Herring Gull of the ssp argenteus is the smallest of the two subspecies. It is short-legged, with a relatively rounded head that gives it a gentle look and a moderately sized bill, with the male being bigger and stockier than the female. It has the palest grey in the aforementioned Silver group, approximately equivalent to that of the Laughing Gull. It has an ivory-yellow to pale yellow eye surrounded by an orange orbital ring. Its bill is yellow to orange with a red vermilion spot at the level of the gonys. Its culmen is coloured the same as its bill. Its legs are pink. In flight, one must pay attention to the pattern of the wingtip, preferably with a photo. The primary remiges have black on their distal portion, spanning more than the length of the P10, the outermost one, then decreasing to very little or none at all on the P5. The P9 and P10 are white-tipped. The tip of the P10 can be entirely white, or white with two very small black triangles, one on each vane, being the most common, or finally white with a small complete black subterminal bar, more rarely.In winter, the head of the adult is covered in small brown spots and the facial region darkens. The adult of the nominate subspecies argentatus of Northern Europe stands out due to its larger size, stronger bill, and darker shade of gray on the upper parts. This is noticeably darker, which is especially evident when compared to the European Herring Gull. The darkest individuals may superficially resemble the paler Brown Gulls of the graellsii subspecies. The argenteus juvenile appears from a distance to be the same color as milk coffee. This is the palest of the juveniles of the group. Three characteristics are diagnostically evident. The first, visible when the bird is perched, relates to the tertials; they are a rather dark brown with a typically scalloped pale beige border. The second happens with the greater coverts, which are pale beige with brown marks, like the other juveniles. This gives the upper wing a paler overall appearance than the other young gulls, which can be clearly seen when the bird is in flight. When in flight, the inner primaries are paler than the outer ones, and the secondaries form a paler window around the hand of the wing, particularly evident against the pale sky. The young gull reaches adult plumage by its 4th year, or 5th year. It would be cumbersome to describe all the immature plumages. It is better to refer to the images in the gallery that illustrate them. From its 2nd yearonwards, gray appears in the plumage and its quality helps with the identification.