ML226781181
Contributor
Date
Location
- Age and sex
- Immature Unknown sex - 1
- Behaviors
- Flying
Observation details
Following up on a reported 2nd cycle found by Tom Aversa yesterday, I located that bird among a group of gulls roosting in the corn fields. I found a 1st-year bird, still largely in juvenal plumage but with replaced scapulars (barred and anchor pattern). The 2nd year bird showed a medium dark gray mantle (scapulars and back) with brownish wing coverts, mostly white head and underparts, some streaking at base of neck. The bill was brownish yellow with a dark tip; the legs were dull ochre or yellowish. This birds appeared slightly smaller and slimmer than the American Herring Gulls it was with. The bill was also slimmer than the Herrings. The 1st year bird was surprisingly crisp and unworn. At first glance it was distinctive because of its dark, checkered appearance, long-winged and slim appearance, all black bill, and slightly darker eye patch. The streaked and spotted underparts were also typical of Lesser Black-backed and stood out in comparison to Herring Gulls. The legs were a dull pinkish-gray. The eye was dark but becoming light, showing a dull honey-brown color. In flight, I noted the crisp, black tail band that was essentially unbarred on the outer rectrices. The rump and uppertail coverts were white with broad black checks and bars. The undertail coverts were similar with a white background and broad black bars. The underwing was dark slaty gray-brown. It seems possible that this bird was born late in the summer last year at a high latitude colony, and thus up to several months younger than the American Herring Gulls here now. This also might fit with a bird moving later in migration as this date suggests. [edit 5/9/2013 -- Peter Adriaens, a leading expert on gulls from Belgium wrote in an email 5/5/2013, "this is indeed a very fresh bird with rather pale greater coverts, but it still looks well within the variation of LBBG to me."]
Technical information
- Model
- Canon EOS 7D
- Lens
- EF400mm f/5.6L USM
- ISO
- 250
- Focal length
- 400 mm
- Flash
- Flash did not fire, auto
- f-stop
- f/6.3
- Shutter speed
- 1/1250 sec
- Dimensions
- 2400 pixels x 1600 pixels
- Original file size
- 2.26 MB