Juvenile. In a sidewalk, Goldcoast, QLD, Australia, Feb. 25, 1997.
We visited mainly places along the coast in this visit to Australia, and often saw Silver Gulls. They wheedled food as if domesticated pigeons do.
Juveniles have black eyes (black irises) lovely. They leave thier brown feathers partially. The above photo of a juvenile was taken on a sidewalk along the GOLD COAST with the sun shining and shining, so the bird walked and wheedled food, panting heavily with its beaks open. Hatching in spring, he wanted not to be adult yet. We saw another juvenile wheedling food out of his (or her) parent bird.
Adult birds had white patterns in their black tails, and the patterns were different respectively. "The patterns can be used for recognizing the birds individually." said my wife.
