Subject: Re: Thayer's Gull Question
Date: Oct 30 16:51:23 1997
From: Norton360 at aol.com - Norton360 at aol.com


Rick et al,
I share your frustration. The species is threatened with extinction at
any time by the AOU Checklist Committee. The published information comes
mostly from parts where they are not common and apparently applies only to
females.
Where they can frequently be seen in numbers and closely (the Elwha River
Dike is the best place that I know), there are obviously two types of adults
the dove headed females and the somewhat larger and heavier headed 'fiercer'
males. Also about 30% in admittedly small samples have such light eyes that
one tries to make them into Herring Gulls. Indeed they may be like our
dominant 'Olympic' or WesternxGlaucous-winged intergrades and have a good
deal of Herring blood in their background. If I were asked to sift through a
given group of 'Olympics' to separate them in to two groups and not have an
intergrade category, I would have much the same problem as we have in trying
to fit all the Thayer's types into a neat package.
I agree completely with your feeling that you have convinced yourself
that gulls are probably Thayer's. I find myself doing just that and when I am
with people who know less about gulls than I do, I try to point out only the
most typical. When I get with a good and enthusiastic 'guller' like Bob
Boekelheide we can have a good if inconclusive discussion. Otherwise it just
puts people off who are not fond of gulls anyway.
Bob Norton
Joyce, WA