yellow-legged gull
larus michahellis latin

It is now generally accepted that the Yellow-legged Gull is a full species, but until recently there was much disagreement.

Yellow-legged Gulls usually breed in colonies.

There are two subspecies of the Yellow-legged Gull:

Yellow-legged Gull breeds for the first time in Britain at a site in Southern England.

They are superficially similar to Yellow-legged Gulls but are slightly smaller with a slightly darker grey back and dark eyes.

Also in residence are the storm petrel, Bulwer's Petrel and Yellow-legged Gull.

The legs, wings and neck are longer than those of the Herring Gull and Yellow-legged Gull.

Yellow-legged Gull (split from Herring Gull)

It typically nests on flat, low-lying ground by water unlike the Yellow-legged Gull which mainly nests on cliffs in areas where the two overlap.

Some authorities include the Yellow-legged Gull (L. michahellis) within L. cachinnans but it is now commonly considered to be a separate species.

The Yellow-legged Gull Larus michahellis was named after him by Johann Friedrich Naumann.

The back and wings are a slightly darker shade of grey than the Herring Gull but slightly paler than the Yellow-legged Gull.

Caspian Gull and Yellow-legged Gull should be considered separate species according to a paper by Lars Jonsson in the journal Alula.

Among the birds one can find the Eurasian Crag Martin and Peregrine Falcon that nest in the cliffs, as well as the Black Kite and Yellow-legged Gulls.

Herring Gull and Lesser Black-backed Gull interbreed to a limited degree where their ranges overlap, producing birds of intermediate appearance, which could be confused with Yellow-legged Gulls.

There are two subspecies of the Yellow-legged Gull: 'michahellis' (named for the German zoologist Karl Michahelles), which breeds in the Mediterranean, and 'atlantis', of the adjacent Atlantic shores.

Due to a nearby landfill site, the reservoir also plays host to a large gull population including Yellow-legged Gulls, Caspian Gulls, Iceland Gulls and Kumlien's Gulls.

The island is a stopping place for many migrating birds, including the Herring Gull, Great Black-backed Gull, Common Shelduck, Little Egret, Eider, Wigeon, Yellow-legged Gull.

The Yellow-legged Gull is a large gull, though the size does vary, with the smallest females being scarcely larger than a Common Gull and the largest males being roughly the size of a Great Black-backed Gull.

It was formerly classified as a subspecies of the Herring Gull (L. argentatus) but is now generally considered to be a separate species although BirdLife International lumps it with the Yellow-legged Gull (L. michahellis).

It also breeds on the west side of the Black Sea; here it overlaps with the Caspian Gull but there is a difference in habitat, with the Yellow-legged Gull preferring sea cliffs and Caspian Gull on flatter shores.

Many of theses species are vulnerable to local predators, primarily from populations of brown rat and predatory bird species, like the Yellow-legged Gull, which will consume the eggs and/or young of birds (the White-faced Storm-petrel and Bulwer's Petrel are primarily susceptible).

Nesting behaviour is very similar to that of Sandwich Terns, with predator avoidance by nesting in very dense colonies, and also (in race emigrata at least) by nesting in the late summer when predatory Yellow-legged Gulls have finished breeding and departed from the nesting area.