For most participants, the bird featured in Monthly Marathon photo number 194 (Brit. Birds 95: plate 347, repeated here as plate 97 was immediately apparent as a skua (Stercorariidae). Only a gull (Laridae) has similar structural proportions and overall shape, but no Western Palearctic gull, of any age, shares this combination of very dark underparts, goldenbrown head and pale, powder-blue legs. H

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