'Please Take Your Litter Home' RSPB sign at Marshside Nature Reserve in Southport UK
A small gull, slightly smaller than Common gull. Adults are pale grey above and white below. Adults are easily told apart from other common gull species by the thick white leading edge to outer wing, which can be seen at some distance. A blackish area bordering the white leading edge of the underwing is also evident. Pointed wings, and a small tail and head in proportion to the body, along with a long neck give a distinctive profile compared to other gulls. Adults have red legs, and in summer plumage, a dark brown hood on the head; in the winter, the hood in absent and is replaced by a dark spot behind the eye. Black-headed Gulls have two age groups, and attains adult plumage after one year when it moults into adult winter plumage. Young birds just out of the nest are called juveniles and are finely patterned on the upperparts in ginger and brown and show a black tail band. First winter and first summer birds retain the wing and tail markings of the juvenile bird, but show grey on the mantle and in the first summer, a hood with a variable amount of white mixed in with the brown. Just after the bird is one year old it moults into adult winter plumage.
Size: 5472px × 3648px
Location: Southport, UK
Photo credit: © MediaWorldImages / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
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