Herring Gull with all dark eye (1 Viewer)

[GMS]

I came across a presumed 4cy Herring Gull with an all dark eye today. This is a known occurrence and in the Olsen book it gives a frequency of <1 in 5000 in a scandinavian sample area. Does anyone have some more/additional/newer data on this?

 

[Dean Nicholson]

I came across a presumed 4cy Herring Gull with an all dark eye today. This is a known occurrence and in the Olsen book it gives a frequency of <1 in 5000 in a scandinavian sample area. Does anyone have some more/additional/newer data on this?

Hi,

I've been seeing adult/sub-adult Herrings with dark iris's in small numbers over the years... some may or may not contain Caspian genes but these 3 were typical argenteus Herrings apart from eye colour....

Cheers
Dean

 

[Dean Nicholson]

Hi,

I've been seeing adult/sub-adult Herrings with dark iris's in small numbers over the years... some may or may not contain Caspian genes but these 3 were typical argenteus Herrings apart from eye colour....

Cheers
Dean

And another apparently fully adult (on plumage) HG been hanging around Mablethorpe with dark pigmented eyes, looking black at a distance.... though i guess the dense hind-neck streaking could be a sign of Caspian genes?

 

[OlgiertVonGame]

I came across a presumed 4cy Herring Gull with an all dark eye today. This is a known occurrence and in the Olsen book it gives a frequency of <1 in 5000 in a scandinavian sample area. Does anyone have some more/additional/newer data on this?

The frequency of herring gulls with completely dark eyes is likely to vary based on location and other factors. It is difficult to provide more recent data on this without further information. It is possible that the frequency of herring gulls with completely dark eyes may be different in other parts of the world, or in different populations of herring gulls. It would be interesting to see if there have been any studies on this topic that have been conducted in more recent years.
historia kolorowanek
quidquid Latine dictum sit, altum videtur

 

[Alexander Stöhr]

Hello,
welcome to birdforum!

And thanks to Dean again for sharing this interesting images and comments!