Juvenile and 1st-winter Yellow-legged Gulls: some thoughts
OK, for want of something topical to post, allow me to present a few images of juvenile and 1st-winter michahellis type Yellow-legged Gulls taken here in Ireland. Even when greater concentrations of gulls were found at various rubbish tips throughout Ireland, and when Yellow-legged Gulls seemed easier to find as a result, it seemed that both juveniles in late summer/early autumn and 1st-winters remaining to overwinter were unaccountably rare in Ireland compared to other age classes. When one considers that juveniles make up a large proportion of the late summer influx to other north-western European countries, it does seem strange that the same should not be the case here. Now, of course, the low observer numbers in Ireland, and even lower number of dedicated larophiles, can't help the situation, especially as birds of these age classes are more difficult to pick up in the first place than adult types. But those of us who were watching gulls intently rarely seemed to find them ei