www.gull-research.org

Hello!
This is my first posting. I'm a hobby birder from Trier, Germany. I watch gulls during the winter months. At the end of January I watched a gull in first-winter plumage. The bird was far away and I was using the telescope. The bird looked at first glance like a dark cach, longlegged and with a rather weak bill. Later on the bird came close and I could take some pics:

http://www.club300.de/photo/mittelmeermoewe_00546.jpg

http://www.club300.de/photo/mittelmeermoewe_00911.jpg

Now I was rather unsure. With the idea of cach still in mind, I was asking myself later on, if this could be cach x argentatus?!

After I received some opinions from different people, I'm now thinking it's a YLG with rather long legs and weak bill. What do you think about this bird?

Thanks!

Best regards,

Dominik Becker
P.S. I have more pics from another day showing the underwing which corresponds well to YLG.

Looks good for a Yellow-legged Gull. There is nothing in plumage that scream Caspian Gull. Bill is rather abnormal (probably the shape will change in the next years).