MA - puzzling adult gull at Turner's - 11/17

Looking through the gloom of a wet, dank Sunday afternoon I wasn't really expecting to find much on the power canal at Turner's Falls. The light was beginning to go andI contemplated my options for the final thirty minutes of daylight. I was just about to leave when four female Goldeneyes flew in, one of which was a first-winter female Barrow's - my first of the season.

A small gull flock contained a handful of Great Black-backed and Herring Gulls, but with no Lesser Black-backed or Kumlien's Gulls present I focused on trying to get an image of the Barrow's Goldeneye. When I looked at the gulls again the numbers had swollen slightly. With them came the beauty featured below - but what is it? Before giving a few more details from notes taken at the scene, I want to circulate the images first. Just to be clear, distance and gloom prevented me from establishing two important characters;

1) I could not define the color of the orbital ring with any clarity.

2) Because the bird was swimming during the whole observation, I could not establish the leg color with certainty but from what I saw of the tibia (during preening) the upper legs may have been pale yellowish-green.

Here's a few digiscoped images taken in the fading light;

 

 

unidentified gull (left) - with Great Black-backed (rear) and American Herring Gulls (right).

Turner's Falls power canal, Franklin Co., MA. November 17th, 2013.

 

 

MA - unidentified gull - 01/29

 

unidentified gull - adult, Barton Cove, Gill, MA. January 29th, 2012. A curious looking bird with upperparts color a tone or two darker than most of the surrounding American Herring Gulls, but certainly not dark enough for a typical Lesser Black-backed Gull (also present). Legs were rather fleshy-yellow or perhaps orange toned, more striking in the field than they appear in these images. The weak yellowish tones to the legs do not show up well in these particular images.

 

Found late in the afternoon after I'd spent most of my time on Kumlien's and Glaucous Gulls. I'm not sure what to make of it, so I'm just posting the images for the time being. The situation wasn't helped by the fact that the bird was roosting almost the whole observation. It lifted its head just once when a flock of Canada Geese departed from the cove.

JPS

MA - unidentified gull - 01/20

unidentified first-cycle gull - East Gloucester, Essex Co., MA. January 20th, 2010.

Larger and bulkier than Kumlien's Gull (right).

Although Nick Bonomo and I had a cracking day of gulling in East Gloucester, our session got off to a shaky start with this bird. We found it just off Rocky Point Road and couldn't have wished for better views. After thirty minutes we moved on feeling completely baffled by what we'd seen! We discussed several possibilities, including hybrid combinations, but I couldn't help wonder why it wasn't a pale-end Thayer's Gull? It was obviously large, maybe too large for a typical Thayer's but beyond that many features, including a nice set of unmolted juvenile scapulars, looked to be OK for Thayer's. I also wonder how we would have treated the bird had it been several shades darker? Later in the afternoon we had little trouble locating the same, distinctive individual at Niles Pond. This time it was surrounded by hundreds of Great Black-backed and American Herring Gulls and didn't look quite so mighty as it had done in Gloucester Harbor. However, it still looked considerably larger and bulkier than most Kumlien's Gulls present.

NB. Jeff Polken's wonderful Thayer's Gull images are well worth checking out, including many pale birds.


As always, comments on the identification would be most welcome.


James

Gambian Gull - November 17th, 2007.

unidentified gull, Banjul Harbour, The Gambia, West Africa. November 17th, 2007.
(Click on the image to view at a larger size).

An interesting gull photographed by my friend Simon Edwards in Banjul Harbor, The Gambia in November 2007. Only two photographs exist with the bird being seen only briefly. "Unfortunately these are the only photos I could obtain, the bird took me by surprise appearing very briefly in front of me and then disappearing for good behind a large ship in the harbour. I can remember at the time seeing the beginnings of a hood (smudgy black area at the rear of the head above and behind the eye) ", says Simon.

So with those limitations in mind, I'm curious to know whether this bird can be identified to species?

Simon has raised the possibility that it may be a Laughing Gull, a possibility with which I agree and thus a very good record for The Gambia, and West Africa.

Grey-headed Gull (the common small/medium gull along The Gambian coast) can be ruled out on wing and tail pattern, but can a first summer/second winter Audouin's Gull be ruled out?

Simon and I would be very interested in receiving comments and pointers towards the identification of this bird.

Thanks very much indeed.

JPS.

CT - another interesting first-cycle large gull - 02/26

Unidentified first-cycle gull - Windsor Landfill, Hartford Co., CT - February 26th, 2009.

Found towards the end of another Windsor Landfill visit, this extremely bleached and faded large gull jumped out from the pack as a bird of interest. It appeared to be a first-cycle bird with an almost entirely dark bill and mid-brown primaries. The bird was large, out-sizing most of the surrounding smithsonianus. Out of interest, it's worth comparing some of this image set of first-cycle Slaty-backed Gulls from the excellent Japanese Gull site. These were also taken in late February.

CT - A most interesting first-cycle gull - 02/18

A return trip to the Windsor Landfill produced immense numbers of gulls peaking at about 1pm with around 6,000 birds present. The first ninety minutes produced only two species (American Herring and Great Black-backed Gulls) but after 12:30 things began to pick up with a new adult Kumlien's Gull and two first-cycle Lesser Black-backed Gulls.

Just before 2pm I came across this beast! A large, rather pot-bellied first-cycle bird with a distinct frosty tone and a curious cinnamon-buff appearance to much of the upperparts. Head and bill profile looked distinctly different to most smithsonianus present with a rather flat crown, long sloping forehead, long lores and long, heavy bill.

The Ujiharas, creators of the Japanese Gull site, kindly commented that almost all the features shown by this bird could be within the range of a first-cycle Slaty-backed Gull. However, the pink based bill would only be shown by a minority of birds at this time of year and most Slaty-backed tend to show a more drooping bill. They also that felt the uniform neck pattern wasn't particularly good as most first-cycle Slatys tend to show more spotted or streaked neck sides. I'm very grateful for thier comments in any event.

Looks like a bird than might be beyond a certain identification for the time being, but it was certainly one to get the heart beating faster in the field!

unidentified first-cycle gull - compared with the American Herring Gull (left) much larger and bulkier with broad whitish tips to the tertials and greater coverts. Primaries distinctive being brown, not blackish-brown, with very neat whitish tips and narrower fringes. Pale bleached head and hind-neck with noticeable but uneven 'mask'.

unidentified first-cycle gull - not too difficult to pick out from the crowd being larger than most American Herring Gulls plus bulky with warm cinnamon-buff tones and rather even, 'velvety' underparts. Overall appearance, not unlike a huge, warm-toned Thayer's Gull.


unidentified first-cycle gull - large, bulky and distinctly frosty looking with pale hind-neck and subtly streaked lower neck.

unidentified first-cycle gull - comparison with the first-cycle American Herring Gull (left).

unidentified first-cycle gull - stout looking bill with pinkish base to both mandibles.

unidentified first-cycle gull - solid stance, pot-bellied jizz recalling Slaty-backed Gull.

unidentified first-cycle gull - first of several digibin flight shots. Rather subtle and uniform in flight, again recalling large Thayer's to some extent. Quite densely but finely barred rump. Fairly narrow secondary bar blending into inner primaries. Inner primaries forming pale but diffuse panel showing 'two-toned' effect merging gradually into outer primaries with no sharp contrast between inner and outer primaries.

unidentified first-cycle gull - Pale inner webs of primaries continuing gradually to outer most primaries showing weak 'pearls' effect. Cropped detail of the primary pattern shown below.


unidentified first-cycle gull - Pale inner webs of primaries continuing gradually to outer most primaries showing weak 'pearls' effect. Rather translucent underwing again recalling Thayer's Gull.