ML67599571

Age

Not specified

Sex

Not specified

Observation details

Seen from West Bay Drive near park. Dark gull-like bird with white wing flashes at wrists, pursuing a Glaucous-winged Gull along port of Olympia log docks. Fast wingbeat & agile pursuit flight. Broke off attempt and flew off to north. Got a really bad, grainy documentation photo; the bird is in front of the blue dumpster (about top center, just right of the white spot) in the photo below Added 6 Sept 2017: I called the bird in question a Parasitic based on my impression that it was not nearly as bulky as a Pomarine, and had a much faster flight than the slower, more 'powerful' flight of that species. It had the distinct underwing flashes that would separate it from a Long-tailed, did not appear to be as small as I would expect in the Long-tailed, and did not seem to be 'grayish' as I would expect in a Long-tailed. I did not see a projection of the central rectrices at that distance. My impression of color was all-dark-brown, rather than "warm" brown, but did not take a good look at the ventral surface. When I saw it chasing the much-larger Glaucous-winged gull, I put down my binocs and pulled out the camera to try to get a doc-shot, and didn't focus further on the coloration.

Technical information

Model

Canon EOS Rebel T6

Lens

EF75-300mm f/4-5.6 USM

ISO

640

Focal length

300 mm

Flash

Flash did not fire, auto

f-stop

f/8.0

Shutter speed

1/640 sec

Dimensions

910 pixels x 647 pixels

Original file size

166.67 KB