ML647213588

Observation details

This gull seems explainable only as a three-species hybrid with Glaucous-winged, Glaucous, and American Herring in its ancestry. It's a large, heavy-billed bird, with black wingtip markings but very extensive white in the wingtip. That combination would point toward Nelson's (Glaucous X American Herring), BUT the eye is dark! Dark eyes should never, ever occur on adult Nelson's. That (along with maybe the thick-tipped bill?) points to Glaucous-winged ancestry! This isn't the first time I've seen gulls I suspected of being this 3-species hybrid combination, but this is probably the most distinctive and otherwise inexplicable ones I've seen.