ML613004648

Age

Not specified

Sex

Not specified

Media notes

Phone thru bins

Observation details

Based on other reports, the bird was seen about one half mile south of Aptos Ceek mouth before I arrived. For me, the bird was a walk-up on the beach on the south side of Aptos Creek mouth at 8:25 am. It stayed there for about 25 minutes, then flew, possibly flushed by a walker, to the north side of the creek. After another 25 minutes, it flew north, apparently undisturbed and just out of line of sight at 9:15 am. I had actually seen this bird on Dec 27, 2023, at about noon at the creek mouth after a two-mile walk looking for a reported Laughing Gull. I absent-mindedly dismissed it as Bonaparte's despite the red bill. I walked another two miles for the Laughing Gull, returning to the creek mouth to see the Black-headed again, this time with Dave Sidle. As he reported, we passed it off as Bonaparte's. Today, the bird was well-seen, as close as 40 feet. Smallest gull on the beach. Noticeably smaller than Ring-billed, see pic. Even though no Bonaparte's was present for comparison, it was clearly slightly larger (now knowing what it was!). This was an adult in winter plumage, very similar to Bonaparte's. But the bill was orange-red with a black tip, and the legs were fairly bright red, not pinkish. When it briefly flew, the upper-wing pattern was very similar to Bonaparte's. Briefly raised wings showed dark primaries on the underside. There were also two very faint smudgy gray bands running over the crown from one side to the other. These were not obvious to me on Dec 27 and do not readily show in photos. Two other Black-headeds I've seen have shown these smudgy bands.

Technical information

Model

SM-A236U

ISO

20

Focal length

4 mm

Flash

Flash did not fire

f-stop

f/1.8

Shutter speed

0.01 sec

Dimensions

1613 pixels x 1409 pixels

Original file size

349.62 KB