nominate Lesser Black-backed Gull (L. f. fuscus)

(last update: 1-1-2010)

Larus fuscus intermedius 2cy JR43 September 24 2007, Westkapelle, the Netherlands. Picture: Pim Wolf.

JR43 is a 2cy, ringed in 2006 on Matmorstua, Loppa, Finnmark, Norway at (70°21'14"N 021°25'36"E). Moult timing is much in line with intermedius, but would also fit a retarded fuscus. Note that the moult gap in the primaries is very small. Bird following the western migration route. Both points (moult strategy and migration route) still not conclusive for subspecies ID, as pure fuscus-type birds have been rediscovered along the western migration route, and very slow moulting 2cy birds (similar to this JR43) have been recorded in Israel!

The most northern location for the Norwegian ringing program is the island Loppa in Finnmark, much similar to Nordfugløy in Troms. Here you find a Lesser Black-backed Gull colony of about 50 pairs (50% pale-mantled and 50% fuscus-type) in cloudberry mires, about 200 meters above sea level.

The ringing program on Loppa started in 2003, when juveniles were ringed. On this island, 93 pulli were ringed in the last years (2005: 13, 2006: 47, 2007: 33, 2008: 0). From 2003 to 2008, 112 juveniles were ringed here (14 ring readings outside the breeding range up to May 2008) and 5 adults (of which one was rediscovered).

More information about migration strategies in Norwegian fuscus and the ringing programme in the three northern counties of Norway: Nordland, Troms and Finnmark, can be found here: The summary for juveniles can be found in the fuscus 1cy October section, the summary for adults can be found in the fuscus adult October section.
Morten Helberg, Geir Systad, Ingve Birkeland, Nils Lorentzen & Jan Bustnes published an article about this research in Ardea 97, 2009, titled: Migration patterns of adult and juvenile Lesser Black-backed Gulls Larus fuscus from northern Norway. The complete PDF can be found HERE.