98-01-15, Angus Wilson writes:

<< Prompted by Nick Lethaby's recent post on the eye color of Slaty-backed
Gulls (as well as previous posts to Frontiers), I also checked my
collection of adult Slaty-backed Gull photographs (20+ individuals).
Consistent with the findings of Nick Lethaby and Al Jaramillo, all showed
an obvious yellow iris. In all cases the iris seemed uniformly yellow
rather than the brown/yellow typical of many adult Vega Gulls.... (snip) >>

Hmm... interesting. How about taking another look at the Tacoma, Washington
'Slaty-backed Gull' posted at:
http://www.ups.edu/biology/museum/SBGUphoto1.jpg
Apparently many of you have been having trouble accessing this website --
either very very slow loading or not accessible at all. Just now, it was not
accessible at all. I've just emailed Dennis Paulson a query about the problem
upon whose webpage the image was posted.

I have not been down to see this bird in life, however, I at least had the
foresight to color print the webpage images when they were first put up and
easily accessible. Looking at that printed image now, the eye (iris) color on
this bird is clearly *amber* (more "brown/yellow" I'd say) rather than tending
more yellowish. I do not profess expertise on the finest points in gull
identification, but I am wondering now if an amber-colored eye fits the
parameters for a full-blooded Slaty-backed Gull or if perhaps we may actually
be dealing with something else here. The image appears to have been taken on
a typical cloudy gray Pacific Northwest day. Any thoughts or comment?
Thanks.

Richard Rowlett <Pagodroma at aol.com>
47.56N, 122.13W
(Seattle/Bellevue, WA, USA)
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