Immature gull
Larus sp.
Gull · San Diego · 6 March 2026
A young gull on the beach at La Jolla, mottled brown overall with none of the clean grey-and-white of an adult, and likely in its first year. The Western Gull is the default expectation on this stretch of coast, where it breeds on the offshore islands, but I wouldn't call it certain from plumage alone at this age.
Large gulls take three to four years to reach adult plumage, cycling through a series of increasingly pale and patterned stages, which is exactly what makes young gulls so much harder to pin to species than the adults.
Birds, insects, plants and other wildlife, mostly from Brooklyn, with some from further afield.
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