This second-cycle Herring-type gull was photographed
on the morning after (March 01, 2009) the close of the 9th International Gull Meeting at Peterhead, Aberdeenshire; I called it to the attention of the few remaining participants standing near me, but it garnered little interest at the time and some other gull (I forget what) caught our attention. I had my first decent look at the images today after loading them onto my home computer, and realised that it was at least a candidate American Herring Gull (AMHG) :
Note the thick, closely-spaced dark barring on the undertail coverts, and the strong mealy pattern to the belly and flanks:
Note the almost-dark tail and heavily-marked rump/uppertail coverts, creating little contrast with the tail:
Note the extensive blotchy shawl on the hindneck:
Again note the pattern of the underparts, including axillaries and underwing coverts:
The inner web of each R6 has extensive white (lightly marked with dark) - but well within the range of AMHG:
FOR COMPARISON: Here's a second-cycle presumed American Herring Gull from Chicago the week before with an exceptional amount of white in the tail... Had no locations been provided, I think many would have called the above bird the AMHG and the bird below closer to EUHG!:
