Bird #58: Lesser Black Blacked Gull

Common Name: Lesser Black Backed Gull

Scientific Name: Larus fuscus

Description: 21-25 inches; four year  Adult: head white with brown streaks; yellow bill with red spot; back dark grey-black; wing tips black; underparts white; yellow legs. Breeding: white head and neck. 3^rd Year: brown speckles on inner wing, blacker wingtips and a faint tail band. 2^nd Year: bill pinkish with black tip; back grey; wings brownish-grey; white rump; black tile band; underparts brown streaked. 1^st Year: bill black; upperparts mottled brown-grey; pinkish feet.

Habitat: Beaches, Bays etc.

Statue: Vagrant – 10 records up to the year 2008 – Birds of Barbados

References: Birds of Barbados by P.A Buckley, Edward Massiah, Maurice B. Hutt, Francine G. Buckley

Helm Field Guides- Birds of the West Indies  by H. Raffaele, J. Wiley, O. Garrido, A. Keith, J. Raffaele

National Geographic- Field Guide to the Birds of North America edited by Dunn and Alderfer

 

Websites:

www.whatbird.com

Gulls on the Horizon

All about Birds

Photograph taken in January