ML132905161
Contributor
Date
Location
- Age
- Not specified
- Sex
- Not specified
Observation details
Shortly after we began scanning the gulls loafing on the beach Tom spotted the continuing, second-winter bird sitting at the edge of the water among the other gulls. We then spent a short while studying this bird, and I attempted to get closer for photographs. Although the gulls we more approachable than usual this afternoon, the less than ideal light conditions made photography difficult given that the best I could do was to have the gull lit from the side. I was nevertheless able to get good views and hopefully a few reasonable photos of this bird, which flew twice yet it remained on the beach and in the same general area. I suspect my photos may reveal somewhat more detail than I was able to note in the field. This bird was about the size and shape of the nearby California Gulls, though it may have been a little larger and the bill maybe a little stouter. The culmen and lower mandible were essentially parallel from the base to the blunt tip of the bill apart from a very weak expansion at the gonys. The forehead was gently sloping but the crown was relatively rounded on a head of unremarkable size. The neck was also comparable in length and mass to those of the other gulls and the body was plump. The wings were conspicuously long, with the elongate wingtips reaching well beyond the tail, and, as I recall, the primary projection exceeded the length of the exposed secondaries and tertials. I did not think the medium-length legs appeared any stouter than those of the other birds, but I cannot recall seeing the feet clearly. This was a relatively conspicuous bird among the flock as a result of the dark gray color of the mantle and the mostly black bill. The head, neck, and underparts were white. I noted some relatively fine, dusky streaking extending up the back of the neck, across the nape, and onto the crown and auriculars, but I did not think this bird had much in the way of the coarse streaking on the back and sides of the neck that I often associate with subadults of this species. The mantle and scapulars were a slate-gray color with some brown clouding, but the wing coverts appeared to be worn and thus rather evenly dark brown with little in the way of a pattern evident. The tertials were darker than the coverts and the longest feather had at least a narrow fringe of whitish distally. I did not clearly see the secondaries in the closed wing, but the exposed primary tips were solidly blackish. I failed to notice the tail when the bird was on the ground, but the views I obtained through the camera lens suggested that there was a broad, black band distally (though my recollection of the rump and the base of the tail is much less clear. The bill was mostly blackish, but I was able to see some yellowish coloration at the tip and apparently also along the culmen. The eyes appeared to be medium-gray at times but paler at others. I noted that the legs were a dull fleshy color that seemed to have at least some yellowish tones along with the pink, but I never did see the feet clearly.
Technical information
- Model
- Canon EOS 7D
- Lens
- EF400mm f/5.6L USM
- ISO
- 320
- Focal length
- 400 mm
- Flash
- Flash did not fire, auto
- f-stop
- f/8.0
- Shutter speed
- 1/1250 sec
- Dimensions
- 1630 pixels x 1250 pixels
- Original file size
- 1.77 MB