ML645856565

Dettagli dell'osservazione

This frosty and neatly patterned Larus stood out amongst the messy AHGU. Small cute head with an eye mostly centered on the face. Dark, relatively straight bill with a small bulge at the gonys. Noticeably pink legs. Tricolor coffee brown tones graduating from the upperparts, tertial crescent and then primaries. Dark primaries, that are too pigmented for a dark kumlieni, with pale crescent edges on the tips. Nice venetian-blind effect across outer primaries contrasting with pale window of the inner primaries, which show some feint marbling. Dark-centered secondaries similar in shade to outer primaries. Dark tailband with pale terminal edge. Densely barred and frosty uppertail and undertail coverts with barring reaching up caudal side of flanks. Frosted appearance on body feathers. This is what I might call an advanced 1C bird. It has molted a single greater covert on the right wing and two scapular feathers. Both are still immature, but appear "adult-like" in that they are gray, yet with noticeable dark markings in the centers of the scapular feathers. The single greater covert is entirely gray with a dark shaft. I would classify this as the start of the second cycle. There is some paling at the base of the bill, which might align with this stage of molt. I think this demonstrates the blurred lines of aging gulls. All-in-all, I think this is a slam dunk. I had just spent some quality time studying Thayer's in the field this fall in AK. I felt comfortable with the ID today soon into the encounter because of the recent familiarity.