On 21 August Bruce Mactavish found what he was looking for, the return of an ABA Code-4, Yellow-legged Gull (Larus michahellis) to Quidi Vidi Lake, St. John’s, Newfoundland.
Yellow-legged Gull has recently become an annual late summer/fall/winter visitor to St. John’s, Newfoundland, but remains casual elsewhere, primarily recorded from the eastern ABA Area. Yellow-legged Gull is the European, mid-Atlantic and Mediterranean counterpart of Herring Gull; it often gives the impression of a Herring from the front and of a Lesser Black-backed Gull from behind. It is similar in appearance to argentatus Herring Gull, but with upperparts darker gray; it is more powerfully built with a larger head, more bulbous forehead, and a flatter crown. It also shows a distinct white trailing edge to the inner wing (Gulls of North American, Europe, and Asia, Olsen and Larsson).
Yellow-legged Gull breeds on eastern Atlantic islands, in Western Europe, and from the Mediterranean to central Asia. It mostly winters south to the Persian Gulf and Indian subcontinent (ABA Checklist, Seventh Edition, Pranty et al.). Almost all records and reports of Yellow-legged Gull have pertained to adult birds and many records are thought to be birds returning in consecutive years to the same areas. The Newfoundland records are thought to represent the subspecies L. m. atlantis while a record from the District of Colombia and one of two birds from Corpus Christi are thought to represent the subspecies, L. m. michahellis (NAB58: 399,457).
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