Menoturals; Full-feather Feature

Joining with the LLB Gang for our once-a-month shared meme day, Nature Friday and Final Friday Feature.

Last Friday and yesterday's posts introduced you to the Lochwinnoch bird population. Permanent residents. They have learned it is a place of safety and plentiful food. I admit I am a bit conflicted at the level of over-feeding that may be occurring, particularly with inappropriate stuff such as loaves of supermarket bread and potato chips, but there is no denying the joy this avian community brings to the human one. What is more, the birds themselves all seemed to be pretty content with the state of play.

Of the Gulls present, there were Lesser Black-backed, Herring, and Black-headed represented. I want to focus on them a bit today because there were also examples of each juvenile stage. ...oh, and can I just emphasise that there are no such things as 'seagulls'. Gulls can be found a very long way from the coast, right into the country and farmland, in fact. Yes, they favour waterways, but they are opportunists and are actually adept foragers/scavengers, as much as they are fishers.

Most of the Gull species will form lasting mating bonds, and Herring Gulls and Greater Black-backed Gulls in particular are known to be life-long monogamous (bar the occasional 'amicable divorce' that occurs if they prove ill-matched for breeding purposes). Breeding occurs once a year in or around April (Northern Hemisphere; antipodean Gulls can vary from late August to early November). The majority of layings are between two and three eggs, and for most clutches, at least two of the hatchlings will survive. Parent birds will take turns to tend the nest in the first few weeks, with the other going to gather food. As fledging takes place, the young will continue to beg for food, and may do so for quite some time even after taking flight. It is that piping sound you hear most in the video. "Feeed meee"! The vast majority will be weaned and self-feeding by the end of three months, but occasionally a parent will continue feeding for another few weeks. The chicks are most vulnerable during this transition from nest to self-care, because quite often they just stand around in the most inappropriate places (like roads or pavements) and this can result in injury or death. 

While there are some subtle differences between the different species of Gull, overall the first four seasons produce roughly similar feathering. Maturity is only attained in the fourth or fifth season, depending on species.

First Year. All over brown colouring, almost duck-like. Beak is black.

Second Year. Mottling still very much present, but the chest and underparts start to whiten,
beak less black.

Third Year. Mottling remains marked on the wings, legs will change colour according to species, beak likely to change also, but may retain black. Head and chest distinctly white.

Fourth Year. Almost transformed to adult plumage.
Still mottling around head and shoulders, 
but legs and beak more or less complete.
Full maturity is reached when the gonydeal (red) beak spot appears.

You might gather from all this that I am a bit of a Larophile. All waterbirds are fascinating to me: well, all birds, but I do have a particular fondness for the shore and pelagic species. It is possibly something to do with having read Johnathon Livingston Seagull (guilty of misnaming for the sake of alliteration) back in my teens. Or, perhaps, that so many people seem to want to hate on them (same with Corvids, and you must know I also like those!) and I have always been one to support the underdog.

Anyhoo, hope you've enjoyed this little look at the life stages of Gulls, and might view them a little differently next time you meet one.