ML618558651

Age

Not specified

Sex

Not specified

Observation details

Late. Very worn individual. Presumably a 1st cycle based on the pointed primaries. Larger than nearby Californias; paling iris; flat crown and sloping forehead resulting in a typical Herring "fierce" look; a few adult light gray feathers visible on the back; primaries still very dark, seemingly not as bleached as some birds might be at this time of year; purplish-pink legs. The only potential issue, I think, is the mostly dark bill in May - perhaps suggestive of Glaucous-winged influence(?) - though it does show some pink along the lower edge and towards the base of the lower mandible. However, it's very straight-sided and has a minimal gonydeal angle as would be expected on Herring and not more bulbous like GW. And, other than the bill color, this bird did not have any further GW characteristics that one might expect to see on a hybrid like a softer facial expression, more-rounded head and/or paler primaries. So just a Herring with an unusually dark bill would seem to be the most likely identification. Photos.

Technical information

Model

NIKON D500

ISO

720

Focal length

500 mm

Flash

Flash did not fire

f-stop

f/7.1

Shutter speed

1/2000 sec

Dimensions

2652 pixels x 1768 pixels

Original file size

1.2 MB