The purpose of this blog is purely to provide a large collection of photos of American Herring Gull wing tips. All photos are of adult birds and all are taken December-February in St.John's, Newfoundland.
For those unfamiliar with Newfoundland Herring Gull you will likely be very surprised with their extreme variation and the excessive amount of white in the wings of some birds. Commonly, Newfoundland Herring Gulls have a large white mirror on p10. A decent number have a fully white tipped p10, but more commonly there is a variable thin black subterminal band separating the mirror from the tip. The vast majority of birds have a large mirror on p9 with some spanning the width of both webs. When this is combined with a white tipped p10, this can make for some exaggerated wing tips, that closely resemble Argentatus Herring Gulls from Northern Europe. Note also the presence of long white tongues and large white tongue tips present on p8-p7 on most birds. While most birds have some type of black band on p5, this is lacking in a percentage of individuals.
For a thorough examination of Newfoundland Herring Gulls, I'd suggest this following
paper by Bruce Mactavish and Peter Adriaens. Note the article is meant for European birders who seek to identify American Herring Gulls in Europe. The author caution against using it in the reverse, to find European Herring Gulls among the more poorly understood American Herring Gull flocks in North America.
Over time I will add more photos to this collection and I will also add and improve on the quality of the captions. For now I wanted to start getting the photos online. I welcome any comments and suggestions.
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| An unusual pattern here with a faint complete band on p4- Jan |
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| This a fairly typical theyeri-like primary pattern, note also the deep tongue on p8 and p7- Jan |
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| slightly unusual with the p10 mirror including the tip, but no mirror on p9. Usually when p10 is white tipped there is a large white mirror on p9 or a thayeri-like p9. Feb |
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| When p10 is not white tiped, the mirror is often separated by a thin subterminal band, as in this bird. the theyeri-like p9 is fairly typical. |
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| Note the black marking on the outer web of p7 is flat topped and lacking a bayonet pattern, this is somewhat unusual in Newfoundland Herring Gulls. |
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| Perhaps smaller than usual grey tongue on p8 and also smallish white tongue tips p6-p7 |
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| A typical wing tip pattern, with bayonets on p7, p6. The black mark on p4 is not too common. |
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| Maybe 10-155 of Herring Gulls in St.John's, lack a mirror on p9. this bird has a characteristic long grey tongue on p8, but lacks bayonets on p7 and p6. |
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| Another bird with a lot of black in the wing. |
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| Quite a typical pattern |
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| Limited black on p7, which is common in these whiter winged individuals. |
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| A darker winged bird lacking p9 mirror and full band on p5. |
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| A common pattern |
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| Its not that unusual for our Herring Gulls to have assymetrical wings. P7 in this case is unusual, in that the black on the outer web is interrupted by the grey tongue. |
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| Perhaps slightly wider sub terminal band on p10 than usual. |
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| a typical bird- Feb |
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| typical pattern- Feb |
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| Note that p10 and p9 are still growing. Unusual in that there is a complete black band on p4. I will have to check the date for this individual. |
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