UNIDENTIFIED GULLS - YLGU-like (michahellis/lusitanius//atlantis):

NOTE: Although I discuss each gull's possible identity using language ranging from tentative to somewhat confident, I regard all identities to be SPECULATIVE unless there is wide (but not necessarily universal - these are gulls, after all!) external support from the gulling community.

ALSO: Many European references (and some gull experts) are up-to-date only on the forms of michahellis - found from Gibraltar and southern Atlantic France eastwards to Greece. The forms of lusitanius (SE France, Atlantic Spain, Portugal?) and atlantis (parts of western Iberia?, Azores, Madeira, Canary Islands, Atlantic Morocco?) are less well-known and some populations - e.g. Azorean birds - are VERY different from typical michahellis:- later-molting and darker, with first-cycle birds being more extensively marked with dark on the contour feathers and tail.