request info on Herring Gulls (1 Viewer)

[Earnest lad]

Forgive me for my lack of knowledge as I am a novice as regards gulls. Please may I ask for advice.
I have a question and would be most grateful if any advice would be available.
What I am enquiring about is Herring Gulls. Particularly ones that are full adult. As of yet I havent the courage or time to delve into the complexities of winter plumages, moults, and sub-adult plumages of gulls.
Please does anyone know whether the adult Herring Gull can be distinguished in the field from the adult American Herring Gull. I do appreciate these are not in the same range but nonetheless it is something I would be interested to know.
Thank you in advance.

 

[Alexander Stöhr]

Hello Earnest,

apart from the well-known books on Gull Identification (you must have them all, if in doubt, feel free to send Santa to me and I will do my best to convince him) and an excellent german article (Identification of American Herring Gull Larus smithsonianus and European Herring Gull L. argentatus by Martin Gottschling, Nikolas K. Haass and Andreas Buchheim, Limicola),
I know of these two articles in english:
https://www.dutchbirding.nl/journal/pdf/DB_2004_26_1.pdf by Pat Lonergan and Killian Mullarney
https://birdingfrontiers.files.word...r-identifying-adult-american-herring-gull.pdf by Peter Adriaens

 

[Earnest lad]

Hello Earnest,

apart from the well-known books on Gull Identification (you must have them all, if in doubt, feel free to send Santa to me and I will do my best to convince him) and an excellent german article (Identification of American Herring Gull Larus smithsonianus and European Herring Gull L. argentatus by Martin Gottschling, Nikolas K. Haass and Andreas Buchheim, Limicola),
I know of these two articles in english:
https://www.dutchbirding.nl/journal/pdf/DB_2004_26_1.pdf by Pat Lonergan and Killian Mullarney
https://birdingfrontiers.files.word...r-identifying-adult-american-herring-gull.pdf by Peter Adriaens

I have downloaded both these articles. Having had a brief look at them, I am sure they are going to be helpful. I intend to peruse them carefully. The latter article in particular looks to have interesting information regarding the mirrors. It seems easier to understand and not quite as technical (more suited to someone of my level LOL) Just to say thanks ever so much for being as always helpful and sharing. Ian

 

[smiths]

Unfortunately, the BirdingFrontiers article may have been a little optimistic...
With regard to adult birds, this paper may be more comprehensive:

https://gull-research.org/papers/papers3/DB26_3_2004.pdf

 

[Earnest lad]

Unfortunately, the BirdingFrontiers article may have been a little optimistic...
With regard to adult birds, this paper may be more comprehensive:

https://gull-research.org/papers/papers3/DB26_3_2004.pdf

Hi smiths. I do apologize. I have just realized that I seem to have accidentally omitted acknowledging your kind response and reference. In that regard, I am downloading the article in your link and will certainly study it. For now though, many thanks...

 

[NickBrown]

They're extremely tricky to separate in adult plumage, probably easier in southern European countries where European Herring Gull aren't as common. As far as I'm aware the only good features are the extent of white on p10, 'bayonettes' and 'w' shaped black on p5.
Whoever manages to find one in Northern Europe deserves a huge amount of credit.

 

[Earnest lad]

They're extremely tricky to separate in adult plumage, probably easier in southern European countries where European Herring Gull aren't as common. As far as I'm aware the only good features are the extent of white on p10, 'bayonettes' and 'w' shaped black on p5.
Whoever manages to find one in Northern European deserves a huge amount of credit.

Thank you so much for this helpful appraisal. As for me I may decide not to try for one in Europe as it seems too hard. LOL