Routine Gull
Their plumage is looking really worn out at this time of year, what with general wear and tear, squabble-damage, (plenty of that) the odd ground scrape when taking off at imperfect angles. The barbules wear and stop gripping their neighbours, here and there a quill buckles or even splinters... Then as if by order of a stage magician, replacements grow and the damaged feathers are shed, to whirl away on the breeze and become oddments of shore-flotsam. And the gull, newly attired in a new suit of sporting whites, sets off about wearing-in his new outfit.
Some thirty-odd such cycles per gull-life, depending on species and feeding success.
Routine Gull
Their plumage is looking really worn out at this time of year, what with general wear and tear, squabble-damage, (plenty of that) the odd ground scrape when taking off at imperfect angles. The barbules wear and stop gripping their neighbours, here and there a quill buckles or even splinters... Then as if by order of a stage magician, replacements grow and the damaged feathers are shed, to whirl away on the breeze and become oddments of shore-flotsam. And the gull, newly attired in a new suit of sporting whites, sets off about wearing-in his new outfit.
Some thirty-odd such cycles per gull-life, depending on species and feeding success.