ML417074801

Age

Not specified

Sex

Not specified

Observation details

Update: After additional review this individual has traits that is unusual for both Kam Gull and nominate canus. I'm leaving it as Common Gull ssp. unknown at the moment but would be happy to hear from those with experience with the taxa. After checking 300ish Herring Gulls for a ww gull and coming up empty I almost went home. But there were 20ish Ring-billeds nearby and I decided to check them for a Common Gull and found exactly that almost immediately. Short-billed Gull was easy to eliminate as I had spent a lot of time in Washington state last winter looking at fields with lots of RBGU and Short-bills side by side. This bird was a bit too big, appearing almost Ring-billed Gull sized at times, not quite as dainty-billed or round-headed and lacking the smudgy brown wash concentrated on the back of the neck typical of Short-billed. Kam Gull was a bit more difficult, particularly as it is pretty big. The mantle color was not anywhere near the extreme dark end for Kam Gull, which is in the ballpark of graellsii LBBG, probably 1-1.5 Kodak shades darker than the RBGU it was with, dark enough it could be picked out with the naked eye, probably within the range of Kam but more typical of Common Gull. The eye was entirely dark another mark in favor of Common. The bill was already beginning to brighten and the ring on the bill was fading, and appeared absent in some photos, but in the best exposed photos it is apparent that there is a ring on both mandibles but broken on the upper. It had a small mirror on the inner web of P8 and no tongue on P8. White on the outer web of P9 broader than the black tip of the feather. Head pattern was fine linear gray streaks ending abruptly at the base of the neck and showing very little blotchiness or coalescing into a solid band. Other than the size the one thing that gives me pause about Kam Gull is P5 has a complete band and P4 has a broken band but has black on both webs. It gave a long call several times, a long shrill "yaaaaaaaa" with the head down, finish with a final note "yah" with the head thrust back as far as it would go, bill open wide flashing a red mouth. Very cool.

Technical information

Model

Canon EOS 7D

Lens

EF400mm f/5.6L USM

ISO

640

Focal length

400 mm

Flash

Flash did not fire

f-stop

f/5.6

Shutter speed

1/4000 sec

Dimensions

1923 pixels x 1262 pixels

Original file size

959.65 KB