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

(last update: 1-1-2010)

(2 images) Larus fuscus fuscus 5cy J030, October 01 2009, Westkapelle, the Netherlands. Pictures Pim Wolf.

J030 was ringed in northern Norway in 2005, now in 5cy. The exact location for J030; E Lislandholmen, Nordhorsvær, Sømna, Nordland, Norway 65°19'24"N 011°36'33"E. This colony only holds pure fuscus-type birds.

A dark blackish-grey looking adult, much darker than birds normally found in the Netherlands (see background for reference). Slender bird with pointed long wings when resting.
Despite being in 5cy, there are still obvious black markings in the tail feathers. Complete moult not started by early October: all flight feathers still old.

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.