ML141337501
Contributor
Date
Location
- Age
- Not specified
- Sex
- Not specified
Media notes
The bird in flight. Note the white marks at the base of the primaries on the bird's right wing.
Observation details
While sheltering from the rain in my car at 8:55 a.m. I had a distant view of a group of gulls bathing in the open water of the estuary east of the parking lot. Through binoculars I thought I saw a white patch at the base of the primaries on one of the birds. The marking looked similar to the unusual markings on the Lesser Black-backed Gull previously seen at Ocean Beach Park. I took some (poor) photos that I believe show this to be the same bird. I don’t believe the photos I took are sufficient to support the identification as Lesser Black-backed Gull on their own. Because of this bird’s specific pattern of leucistic marks at the base of its primaries and the dark smudging around the eye, though, I believe this is likely the same bird that was photographed the day before by Don Thornton (see https://ebird.org/view/checklist/S52797397) and Dave Compton (see https://ebird.org/view/checklist/S52795726). The bird I photographed flew away to the west, but did not appear to be present when I (and others) subsequently examined the gulls at the river mouth.
Technical information
- Model
- DC-FZ80
- ISO
- 1000
- Focal length
- 215 mm
- Flash
- Flash did not fire, auto
- f-stop
- f/5.9
- Shutter speed
- 1/500 sec
- Dimensions
- 1231 pixels x 858 pixels
- Original file size
- 283.6 KB