ML647897733

Observation details

1st cycle gull with thick bill look, string of pearls to inner primaries, bulky/long secondaries, somewhat lower contrast upperwing window, pale uppertail, and barred outertail feathers were some aspects of this individual that gave me pause to call it just another herring gull. Some views recall Figure 22 in Ted Floyd's article on Vagrancy and Identification of First-cycle Slaty-backed Gulls. https://www.birdpop.org/docs/pubs/McKee_et_al_2014_Vagrancy_and_ID_of_First_Cycle_Slaty-backed_Gulls.pdf Would like to fine tune this one with a few gull experts to rule out Slaty, Vega, or hybrid type. Perhaps this will just be an AHGU in the end, but the apparent pale tongue tips at P6, P5, P4, P3...appear to be more of a SBGU trait than AHGU.