© A. R. Dean

Strictly, Glaucous Gulls in their first calendar year are 'juveniles' rather than 'first-winters', as they moult few if any feathers before the complete moult into second-winter plumage, which commences during the spring of the second calendar-year. The plumage becomes paler and plainer during the course of first winter, primarily as a result of bleaching and wear. The individual here is still very evidently 'juvenile', with relatively dull and gingery head, breast and underparts. The upperparts, scapulars, wing-coverts and especially the flight-feathers are conspicuously paler.