ML302916811
Contributor
Date
Location
- Age
- Not specified
- Sex
- Not specified
Observation details
*Changed from initial ID of FRGU*. Walking around on mudflats north side of the channel. Smallish gull, about same size as or smaller than nearby RBGU. Medium to small bill, black but when sun poked through could detect the faintest hint of red. Partial hood around nape with broken eye-ring. The eye-ring looked like it met behind the eye, but was hard to confirm from a distance without the contrast provided by a fully black head. Second-cycle (i.e. second winter) bird judging by very faint black feathering on the upper side of the tail where the subterminal band of a 1st-cycle bird would be and lack of retained brown juvenile feathers on coverts. Extensive black in primaries (not the clean narrow black tips of an adult FRGU) especially on underside seen in flight. The extensive black in wings, limited black hood (at least in the photos), and largish looking bill point to LAGU. Sibley notes that a second-cycle FRGU is probably indistinguishable from an after second-cycle FRGU, which I assume means that a second-cycle FRGU would have narrow black wing tips, particularly as seen from below. In the video, there is clearly extensive black on the undersides of the primaries as expected for an adult LAGU. Structurally this bird doesn't look like the typical LAGU, but it also seems heavier-billed than typical FRGU. These characters are a bit hard to judge however, with only large Larus gulls for reference. Hope someone can get some better documentation.
Technical information
- Camera
- Microphone
- Accessories
- Original file size
- 10.58 MB