ML313757171

Age

Not specified

Sex

Not specified

Observation details

Interesting gull picked up amongst a swirling feeding frenzy of gulls brilliantly by Baxter who noted quickly the shade darker mantle and wings, as the bird reared back towards us the long skinny wings were reminiscent of a LBBG but looks at the eye and face seemed wrong for any hybrid involving LBBG, yellow legs were apparent which in most all circumstances point away from HERG, a dark eye, red orbital ring were the big give aways upon the first pass, with intrigue we reared the boat arounda and pursued the gull who flew away from the slick. On the water the bird had noticeable long skinny primaries with small primary tips which aided in any possible oddball Iceland type gull which would show large white primary tips. The gull on the water had a small head and dainty bill, the bill had complete ring on bill plus the typical red dot around the gonys. The primaries were black well down to the near the base unlike HERGs and ICGUs which black primaries fade to only black on the leading edges when running down to the base of the wing. Markings on neck also good for CAGU which have usually a distinct slightly dirty hood with a narrow brown flecked nape. In flight, not noticeably smaller than HERGS due to the long wings. With a few residual non-molted tail feathers, this bird is a 3rd cycle (4CY) CAGU. Observered roughly 1-2 miles off from Rudee Inlet on the way back among the gull flock attracted to the boat.

Technical information

Model

NIKON D3400

ISO

800

Focal length

300 mm

Flash

Flash did not fire

f-stop

f/6.3

Shutter speed

1/800 sec

Dimensions

720 pixels x 720 pixels

Original file size

298.99 KB