Little Gull - Derek Lecy
Report

Contributor

Date

Location

Pt. Reyes--Drakes Beach (DO NOT INCLUDE Horseshoe Pond or beach/estero beyond Horseshoe Pond)
Marin, California, United States
Media from this location Illustrated Checklist
Map
Map Coordinates: 38.0271821, -122.9615507
Age and sex
Immature Unknown sex - 1

Media notes

1CY LIGU with retained juvenile remiges.

Observation details

Absolutely awesome! 4th MRN Co. record, and first land record since 1989. Found initially yesterday (5/13) by N. Warnock. Refound earlier today by B. Atwood. Seen from the beach a little west of where Horseshoe Pond drains into Drake’s Bay. We initially had been looking at the BOGU flock near the Elephant Seal fencing to the far west of the beach, when we received word that the LIGU was down at the very opposite (east) end of the beach near Horseshoe Pond. We raced down there only to have M. Butler tells us he had seen the bird flying over our heads in the opposite direction as we were running. Dejected (some in the group were near tears), we solemnly trudged back toward the parking lot hoping to come across the bird. Luckily, as we were heading back west, the bird flew right at us and low overhead before landing on the beach, being flushed by two oblivious beachgoers, and then settling down back on the beach near the inlet to Horseshoe Pond where it had been for the past hour or so. Phew! Small, sylph-like gull. Very buoyant and acrobatic in flight, size not readily differentiated from BOGU, but dark upperwing M pattern boldly diagnostic. Immature bird with replaced mantle feathers, but juvenile remiges and rectrices, said for central rects which have been replaced. I believe still technically a 1CY since all juvenile primaries have been retained. A few dark tertials seen in photos, but this was not apparent in flight and only seen afterwards in photos. Dark cap also set it apart from the nearby BOGUs. When resting on the beach, which I only observed briefly before it was flushed, it was very small and was easier to pick out amongst the BOGUs, at certain angles.

Technical information

Model
ILCE-9
Lens
FE 200-600mm F5.6-6.3 G OSS
ISO
400
Focal length
600 mm
Flash
Flash did not fire
f-stop
f/6.3
Shutter speed
1/2000 sec
Dimensions
2842 pixels x 1895 pixels
Original file size
3.4 MB