ML616866225

Age

Not specified

Sex

Not specified

Observation details

I downgraded this again after conferring with Case, who is annoyingly excellent at these. It seems every year I have to learn the same lesson again, which is that this is particularly awkward time of year for gull plumages, with many Herring Gulls getting white-headed and even smudgy eyed, and this bird is most likely one of them. Nor has this been confirmed for Lesser Black-backed despite later sightings of other rarities clearly having gone through moderation. After looking at my photos I feel pretty solid about this bird and so am upgrading from gull sp. Conditions and photos are terrible, but this bird is far too white-headed for Herring, and is clearly far smaller than GBB in the widest photo. The side view is blurry and rainy, but the primary projection is long. The mascara is dark and difficult to reconcile with any other likely species. Original notes: [Suspected Lesser BB on runway, where most gulls on this list were hunkering down, distant photo obtained and WBA. May upgrade to species after photo review.] 4/5/24 Adding some of Case's typically quality notes here, with their permission, for future reference, now that I have recovered from the sting of this misidentification: “it looks stout-bodied and sort of a warm sandy-brown color overall, not like the black-and-white plumage of a juvenile lesser. It doesn’t appear to have very sharp, coarse streaking on the sides of the throat, but a sort of particle board-like speckled or “mealy” (ugh) appearance. In addition I don’t think it’s dark-mantled enough - the tertials and greater (?) coverts look darker than the majority of the upperwing surface, which itself doesn’t contrast much with the underside. The head is definitely pale, but it’s normal for first cycle herring gulls to have a frosty, silvery-looking hood or cowl." Case also notes that the posture and head shape in the third photo shows "a pretty definitive Herring Gull shape." and: "I think people oversimplify this ID by talking about low contrast vs high contrast - LBBG is, for the most part, a black and white gull with some shades of gray. Other than maybe fresh juveniles, which we don’t see very often here, any kind of warm or deeply sandy base color is a point against LBBG."

Technical information

Model

Canon PowerShot SX70 HS

Lens

3.8-247mm

ISO

100

Focal length

247 mm

Flash

Flash did not fire

f-stop

f/6.5

Shutter speed

1/160 sec

Dimensions

3888 pixels x 3888 pixels

Original file size

1.99 MB