ML532771871

Age

Not specified

Sex

Not specified

Observation details

I was at the end of the southwest tip of the point watching a stream of Ring-billed Gulls fly in from the sometime islands to the east. I quickly noted strange low nasaly dry croak/honk like calls from above and spotted a large gull gliding overhead a bit after 11:00am. It was calling constantly and surveyed the RBGUs below as they dropped down and out of view behind the small sandbar just off the point. The big gull decided to continue upstream towards Hudson Bend to the northwest, but then boomeranged back to the point and joined the resting RBGUs. At first a Lesser-blacked Back Gull came to mind, but with the initial backlit views in poor light under a light drizzle of rain, I wasn't ready to commit for full ID. About fifteen minutes later, a few RBGUs started to take flight and head out to the northwest. The big gull soon followed and started trailing the RBGUs. With a much better view this time, I was immediately drawn to the unique dark/dirty eyed look to the face, thick straight yellowish bill with blood red-orange bold smear to nominal gonydeal area, and bold white trailing edge to the wings which recalled Slaty-backed Gull. But of course this would be insane at this location. After reviewing photographs, the gull appeared to have pink legs which would rule out LBBG. And the bizarre low nasal kroke calls were very out of place and matched up better for SBGU than LBBG when comparing online recordings. With the overall stocky, dumpy, beer gut look to the body, bold white trailing edge to the wings, dark stink eyed look, pale eye, and string of pearls to the primaries, I was pushed to consider SBAG. Only viewed in flight with 8x42s. Photo'd. Subsequently posted photos of this individual for further feedback on the North American Gulls Facebook Group and the more experienced gull aficionados agreed with SBAG. *I have more photos of this gull, but looks like eBird has a 10 shot limit. Many of them show the unique landmarks of the Windy Point area for site specific provenance. Updated* (TBRC 2023-12) (TPRF 4048)

Technical information

Model

Canon EOS 90D

ISO

250

Focal length

600 mm

Flash

Flash did not fire

f-stop

f/7.1

Shutter speed

1/1000 sec

Dimensions

1805 pixels x 1203 pixels

Original file size

178.76 KB