I have seen many thousands of Slaty-backs in the Russian Far East but
unfortunately had a lot of other things on my mind at the time. Maybe
a few rough impressions will still prove of interest to someone.

Around Magadan, the Slaty-backs were not particularly brutish-looking
or dark -- not much darker than than 'our' Westerns.

In Provideniya (at the very eastern end of the continent) I ran into
individual big bruisers that reminded a lot of Great Black-backs.
In one case, thousands of gulls were sitting on the roofs of a large
fox farm. Those on the ridgeline were easy to size. The few Slaty's
were noticeably larger and darker than the many, presumably, vegae,
Herring Gulls.

Tully Hammill hammill at u.washington.edu
Library Systems, FM-25 (206) 543-8034
University of Washington Libraries Seattle, WA 98195