ML210668311

Age

Not specified

Sex

Not specified

Observation details

One adult, one 1st cycle. Close photos of today's adult CAGU prove it is a different bird than the adult CAGU photographed by this observer on 2-17-20 (yesterday), making a count of 3 different CAGU's at this locale in a 2 day period! Today's adult CAGU was slightly larger than nearby RBGU and smaller than nearby HERG with a longer primary projection at rest. Slender (although large for CAGU; possibly indicating a male bird?) bright yellow bill with a red gony spot and a black subterminal smudge. Round head, dark eye and noticeable brown streaking on the head, nape and sides of throat (which further differs this bird from yesterday's adult CAGU). This streaking formed a post-ocular line on the face, giving the bird a "fierce" expression. Darker gray mantle and wings than nearby RBGU and HERG (although the bright sunlight and ice made this feature difficult to nail down. Prominent white scapular and tertial crescents. The underparts were white and the legs were a dull yellow. Digiscoped photos of the spread wing show an L shaped black area on outer primaries, a white mirror on p10 and a smaller white mirror on p9. The black outer "band" extends inward to p5. Today's 1st cycle CAGU showed the same size proportions in relation to other nearby gull species. What really stuck out was the overall dusky appearance of the sleeping bird, particularly around the back of the head, sides of throat and upper chest. The body appeared overall darker than similar aged RBGU, HERG or LBBG (for that matter). Bill was slender and bicolored with a pinkish inner 2/3 and a dark outer 1/3. Head was rounded, with the dusky streaking coalescing behind the eye in a postocular line. There were medium-gray feathers coming in to the dark brown mantle and scapular region. The folded wing coverts were brown with whitish edges; very dark brown on the greater coverts. The chest and belly were smudged brown on a white background. Upper and undertail coverts were barred brown. The legs were pink, showing a peculiar bluish cast above the knee joint. Upon taking flight, the bird showed a very dark aspect on its' long, pointed wings. The outer primaries were very dark, lacking the obvious inner primary "window" of same-aged HERG. The secondaries and secondary coverts formed parallel dark bars, unlike 1st cycle HERG. Although not noted in the field, another character supporting a CAGU ID is the pale tips to the greater primary coverts, which creates a thin, white ling across the wing (this feature is worn on this bird, but visible in photos).The tail showed a wide dark brown subterminal band. Here are some photos to play with (Adult CAGU followed by 1st cycle CAGU:

Technical information

Model

C-LUX 2

ISO

100

Focal length

16.4 mm

Flash

Flash did not fire, auto

f-stop

f/5.6

Shutter speed

1/320 sec

Dimensions

1204 pixels x 871 pixels

Original file size

223.59 KB