ML620156000

Age

Not specified

Sex

Not specified

Observation details

Bonaparte’s/Little Gull. This bird immediately caught my attention in the field as a candidate for LIGU. The entire time I observed this bird it was walking along the shore of the reservoir in the north west corner and I never saw the bird fly. Viewing conditions were far from ideal with some heat wave and constant strong winds making it challenging to observe the bird. I believe this is a first summer bird but I’m not entirely sure about the age of this bird. When I first saw the bird it immediately caught my attention. The bird was very small overall with an overall stocky shape and short winged appearance. The bird had a very distinct and dark black carpal bar and the primaries were entirely black. It also had a weird white patch, maybe bleaching, on the tertials when the bird was facing directly away from me. The bird had limited black on the head, mostly on the top of the head. Its legs appeared short but I was unable to make out the color. The bird was too distant for me to make out any details about the bill. I have little experience with BOGU in this plumage this time of year and no experience with LIGU in this plumage. I initially reported this bird as gull sp but to alert other to a possible LIGU I have temporarily changed it. I am not confident identifying this bird to species based on the looks I had but it appeared to be a good candidate for LIGU. If no one is able to refind this bird and identify it to species I will change it back to gull sp.

Technical information

Model

COOLPIX P1000

ISO

220

Focal length

539 mm

Flash

Flash did not fire

f-stop

f/8.0

Shutter speed

1/500 sec

Dimensions

1200 pixels x 900 pixels

Original file size

705.33 KB