Hi Tweets,

A couple of interesting notes from 'ID Frontiers' re comparisons of
Slaty-backed Larus schistisagus and Western and Glaucous-winged Gulls L.
occidentalis and glaucescens. Hey, Ruth, what's the chances you could get
some direct-comparison 'face-left, now face-center, now face-right' mugshots
of the Tacoma Slaty with the other two and tack 'em up?

Michael Price A brave world, Sir,
Vancouver BC Canada full of religion, knavery and change;
mprice at mindlink.net we shall shortly see better days.
Aphra Behn (1640-1689)


Nick Lethaby writes:

>Al Jaramillo and I spent some time looking at Slaty-backed Gull photos
>today. We were probably able to study perhaps 25-30 individuals (of second
>year or older) in detail. All showed yellow eyes. There was some variation
>in the yellow. This ranged from lemon-white to more golden. There were hints
>of brown flecking in the eye of one of the birds that it appeared more
>golden. However, it was still obviously yellow, not dark.
>
>Another possible id point (v. Western & Glaucous-winged) that emerged from
>looking at photos is that Slaty-backed may be slighty shorter-legged,
>perhaps especially so on the exposed part of the tibia. It would be great if
>the observers in OR and WA could check this out on the Slaty-backeds there
>in direct comparison with WEGU/GWGU to see if this is really true. It's
>difficult to really judge this from photos.
>_____________________________________________________________
>
>Nick Lethaby Elanix, Inc
>nlethaby at ix.netcom.com 1112 N. Abbott Avenue
>Tel: (408) 941 0223 Milpitas, CA 95035
>Fax: (408) 941 0984 U.S.A.
>