Amazing journey of a Yellow-legged Gull (Larus michahellis)
Tuesday, 15 January 2013 12:29 |
Inocêncio Oliveira from Portugal, sent us a photo of a Yellow-legged Gull ringed by Aitor Galarza as a reproductive adult in the breeding colony of Izaro (Urdaibai). It has been marked this spring as part of the monitoring project started in this colony in 2004. Inocêncio took this photo on the beach of Matosinhos (Oporto) the 12th of November. The straight-line distance between Urdaibai and Matosinhos is about 550 km, but in all likelihood this gull have travelled the 810 km that implies to go along the Cantabrian and Atlantic coast until this portuguese place. This is the longest journey known until now of a Cantabrian adult Yellow-legged Gull, Larus michahellis lusitanius, subspecies that is characterized among other things, because it is very sedentary.
Yellow-legged Gull (Larus michahellis) breeding colony of Izaro |