ML329723461

Age and sex

Adult, Unknown sex - 1

Media notes

Digiscope image.

Observation details

With Patrick Van Thalll, Kyle Leader, Maxine Reid and others. After searching the mudflats for over an hour, with no success, a bit of feeding action developed below us. The feeding activity of about 15 Bonaparte's Gulls, 5 Mew Gulls, 2 Ring-billed Gulls, and 3 Caspian Terns were joined by a dark-hooded gull that was almost as large as the Mew Gulls with a similar slower wingbeat. I called everyone's attention to it, while I tried to see beak color and the undersurface of the primaries. I was puzzled as the few views I got of the underwing did not look as dark as I expect for a BHGU. Since we were mostly looking down at the bird, views of the underwing were relatively infrequent. When I could get a clear view, primaries 3 and 4 did appear blackish, but the next three were not black, rather a medium gray. Mantle color was difficult to judge in the gray, drizzly light, but may have been one shade lighter than BOGU. Obvious white triangle on upperwing. Full dark hood that ended higher on the head than BOGU, best seen when it finally landed. Remainder of plumage unmarked white. Dark beak appears longer than BOGU. When it landed, I managed a few digiscoped photos, the best one is attached. Could see a brownish tone to the hood at higher magnification in the scope, not obvious but the light wasn't great for detecting color. Could not see with certainty any red on the beak, the base may have showed dull red but I was not positive of it.

Technical information

Model

Pixel 4a

ISO

75

Focal length

4.4 mm

Flash

Flash did not fire

f-stop

f/1.7

Shutter speed

1257/250000 sec

Dimensions

758 pixels x 686 pixels

Original file size

117.01 KB