1st winter
Heuglin's Gull  Larus heuglini heuglini
Jan. 17th 2012  Choshi Chiba Japan

This Heuglin's Gull suddenly came into the harbor and was hanging around for a few minutes. Its dark and slim overall appearance very like Lesser Black-backed Gull stood out among Vega Gulls. At least I found no obvious features that suggested 'taimyrensis' such as a palish 'window' on inner primaries.


Note the dark inner primaries that do not form a pale 'window'.



Its quite dark, pointed wings look very like Lesser Black-backed Gull. The greater covert bar looks similar-toned to the secondaries.


The underparts in flight look sharply mottled, and are not uniform or soft-spotted like Vega Gulls and many 'Taimyr Gulls' 

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