Yellow-legged Gull michahellis/lusitanius - tearing my hair out

[Deb London]

Please can someone help.

I wanted to research what an immature Yellow-legged Gull looked like as I think there is a 50 % chance that I saw one today.

I went to this site to discover that there are two sets of images, either for michahellis or for lusitanius. But I don't know which it is likely to be and internet searches are starting to confuse me.

The gull was seen in London.

Can anyone help with this? I had guides in front of me (there are several in the hide), but I really need one dedicated to gulls. If anyone can recommend one, that would be good.

Thanks.

[Adam Cheeseman]

It would in all probability be a michahellis.

Cheers,

Adam

[Deb London]

Ahhh, thanks for that.

[Shrike]

the helm guide to gulls of europe asia and north america is on sale on a post called books for sale by joshjenkinson(or something similar)on bird forum for £30 at the moment. Dont know anything about this book but thought i'd mention it.

[Deb London]

Thanks T, I'll have a look at that.

[RoyW]

Originally Posted by Shrike

the helm guide to gulls of europe asia and north america is on sale on a post called books for sale by joshjenkinson(or something similar)on bird forum for £30 at the moment. Dont know anything about this book but thought i'd mention it.

Anyone considering buying a secondhand copy of this book needs to be aware that some of the photographic plates were transposed in the first printing so ended up incorrectly labelled. The publishers sent out free copies of a corrected second printing to anyone who bought one of the original copies if they removed and sent in the title page - so the uncorrected copies are still in circulation but with the title page removed.

The corrected second printing is what you want - and it's a great book. It really does go into depth with the descriptions and deals with all the gull species of the northern hemisphere (including some which aren't always treated as separate species). It can be hard going at times so isn't one that I'd recommend to anyone who isn't prepared to spend quite a lot of time studying it!

lusitanius Yellow-legged Gulls are some from Iberia that appear to be slightly different from the michahellis ones found elsewhere. Not all authors/taxonomists recognise them as a valid race at present, and as far as I know there have been no substantiated claims from the UK.

[Deb London]

Interesting Roy. Thanks.

[david156]

Originally Posted by RoyW

Anyone considering buying a secondhand copy of this book needs to be aware that some of the photographic plates were transposed in the first printing so ended up incorrectly labelled. The publishers sent out free copies of a corrected second printing to anyone who bought one of the original copies if they removed and sent in the title page - so the uncorrected copies are still in circulation but with the title page removed.

I got a copy of the first printing free of charge, some time ago complete with an errata sheet that lists these incorrect labels which also included some map discrepancies. There wasn't too many errors. If anyone has the first copy and needs a list of the corrections, let me know and i'll forward a copy to you.

David

[RoyW]

Originally Posted by david156

I got a copy of the first printing free of charge, some time ago complete with an errata sheet that lists these incorrect labels which also included some map discrepancies. There wasn't too many errors. If anyone has the first copy and needs a list of the corrections, let me know and i'll forward a copy to you.

David

Yes of course, the first printing is just as usable as the corrected edition if you have an errata sheet and don't mind the minor hassle of occasionally having to check whether there are errors in the pages that you are using!
I guess that someone gave you their original copy after they received the corrected edition?

It is something that people need to be aware of though!

[Wild-Woman]

Interesting to know. I shall check my copy out later.