ML646264791

Dettagli dell'osservazione

On the western beach of Mariner’s Cover (facing Mariner’s Basin) here: 32.7662775, -117.246216. AT a distance it first caught my eye as a 1st cycle Olympic gull, but as I got closer, I realized it looked good for Thayer’s. The head was smaller, rounder, and the eye is proportionally larger than an Olympic gull. The bill is on the larger size but still smaller, thinner, and less bulbous than anticipated for an Olympic gull. The bird showed a gradual three-toned gray-brown pattern, darkest on the primaries, lighter on the tertials, and lightest on the coverts and scapulars. The brownish tone to the primaries can rule out American herring gull, which should show much darker/black outer primaries. When the wings were stretched (photo), the two-toned outermost primaries appeared dark along the outer edge and pale along the inner margins, with the pale crescent on the tips.