ML20388071

Age

Not specified

Sex

Not specified

Observation details

***MEGA. Videos at blog post http://birdventure.blogspot.com/2011/12/mega-slaty-backed-gull.html.
We observed the bird from point A, and it spent most of it's time in the area between A and B, if not out of sight at B. Towards the end of our frigid stay the bird flew and landed right in front of s on the berm at point C. Wonderful looks were obtained!
Likely post-3rd year/adult. ID was extremely convincing: conspicuous slaty-gray dark mantle, dark pink legs, broad white line on rear of wings, readily apparent distinct brownish streaking on head and neck, muddy streak concentrated around eye, yellow iris, and obvious white subterminal spots on the primaries. Certainly not younger than 3rd winter, and likely 4th winter due to the moderate, but not dense, streaking on the breast.

Found by Dan Duso on December 12, and seen by perhaps a hundred birders since then. On Thursday morning, the bird's location was not known. After a 250-mile round-trip drive to see this bird, Nathan and I spent a painful 50 minutes searching in the freezing windy weather. After discovering 2 Great Black-backed Gulls, Nathan went on to find a 3rd dark-mantled gull down in the trash near the excavating site. He immediately confirmed the id based on the prominent streaking on the head and the large white tips on the rear wing, and dark pink legs. I managed a few rusty pics seconds later. The bird spent a minute moving around in the excavation site before rising to fly around the valley for a few minutes. It eventually perched nearly out of sight. Half an hour later, all the gulls in the landfill flushed and the SBGU was lost. It was refound a few minutes later above the drive on the grassy berm, preening and providing excellent looks for the next hour until we left.

Technical information

Model

FinePix S3280

ISO

800

Focal length

103.2 mm

Flash

Flash did not fire, auto

f-stop

f/5.9

Shutter speed

1/640 sec

Dimensions

1842 pixels x 1337 pixels

Original file size

789.58 KB