ML128324501

Age

Not specified

Sex

Not specified

Observation details

If accepted by the CBRC, this bird represents the fourth Little Gull for Stanislaus County and the first in adult plumage. This bird was also observed by Sal Salerno. Two short videos taken by Sal of the Little Gull are posted here: https://docs.google.com/a/cvcaonline.net/file/d/0B2k6_Ln1rhxVNkt6RW5tTkZpdE0/ https://docs.google.com/a/cvcaonline.net/file/d/0B2k6_Ln1rhxVX1JPWkUtZzEwQlU/ We first saw this Little Gull at 10:30 AM and it flew out of sight to the south at 11:20 AM, allowing us unbroken observation for the entire 50 minute period. The location of this bird was storage pond #1, mainly associating with a loose flock of about 30 Bonaparte's Gulls at the inlet at the middle-west part of that pond. My first view of the Little Gull was in flight with a couple of Bonaparte's Gulls in the inlet area. The solid light gray mantle with broad white trailing edge and primary tips caught my attention as different and the small size relative to the Bonaparte's strongly indicated its identity. I called," Little Gull - black wing linings." Sal was soon observing the bird through the car windshield as I was, and he stayed on it while I grabbed a camera and scope and exited the car. As we watched, the bird flew well out over the calm water in the middle of the large pond (370 acres) to perhaps 500 m away (later measured using Google Earth as closer to 600 m) before returning to its original location after about 10 minutes. Still in flight, it flew south and past us and then returned north, passing us about 50 m offshore. It finally landed among the Bonaparte's Gulls, allowing us to get some distant photos and video of it sitting on the water. Verbatim from my notes taken while observing this very cooperative bird: Small gull, 20% smaller than Bonaparte's Light gray mantle - upper wings uniform light gray with white tips Blackish underwings - nearly black wing linings 10% white border at tips and along trailing edge, top and bottom Small black bill, shorter and smaller than Bonaparte's, rather sharp and thin Face white with rounded black spot around eye and second rounded black spot behind and below eye Black spots smaller and darker, less smudgy and elongated than Bonaparte's Head rather round; crown and nape medium gray - appeared darker than back Underparts pure white, tail pure white. It seems apparent that this bird was an adult (after second year) nonbreeding Little Gull. No other gull has this combination of very small size with light gray upperwings and back with blackish underwings, both wing surfaces having a prominent pure-white trailing edge of rather uniform width along the entire length of the wings. The medium to dark gray crown and nape, combined with the dark, rounded facial spots further distinguish this bird from Bonaparte's gull, which tends to have smudgy facial spots that may extend upward toward the crown and merge with a light gray or brownish-gray patch on the hind crown. Simply being smaller than a Bonaparte's gull eliminates nearly all gull species, including Black-headed Gull and both kittiwakes. A Sabine's Gull would always show contrasting triangular regions in the upperwing, and Ross's Gull is (unfortunately) eliminated from consideration because of its gray (rather than blackish) underwings and its longer, more slender wings and tail. above - adult nonbreeding Little Gull in flight below- same adult Little Gull resting on water (Bonaparte's Gull to left)

Technical information

Model

Canon PowerShot SX50 HS

ISO

80

Focal length

215 mm

Flash

Flash did not fire, auto

f-stop

f/6.5

Shutter speed

1/320 sec

Dimensions

3600 pixels x 2700 pixels

Original file size

577.78 KB