This first-basic smithsonianus Herring Gull was photographed at Elliot
Landfill, Corpus Christi, Texas, on April, 2005. I feel that this
is an example of "trauma fault-barring" whereby this
bird underwent some kind of trauma soon after starting to grow
it's first flight feathers, and this resulted in the "fault-line"
effect shown on the tail and the bases of the primaries - and
perhaps also affected the final growth stage of the bill?:
