Gene Hunn, Seattle, hunnhome at accessone.com

I joined the multitudes today chasing rare gull stakeouts hereabouts:
Slaty-backed at Gog-le-hi-te wetlands, Tacoma; Little Gull at American Lake,
Lakewood; Glaucous Gull at Tukwila. I saw the Little Gull well at quite a
long distance dancing about on the far side of the lake with Bonies. Missed
the Glaucous twice, yesterday because I forget the exact directions and
drove all around for an hour (Tukwila scenic tour) seeing few if any gulls)
and today the flock was across the river rooting about in a cement plant and
the Glaucous not visible in the afternoon rain (though it was seen earlier).

I didn't see Ruth's Slaty-backed, which judging by the fotos on the net and
descriptions is much darker than the Western-types round about and with a
"Thayer's-like" dainty bill. However, there were in addition to one fine
adult Western, two other slightly darker-mantled adults that did not readily
compute for me as Westerns. One might well have been another Slaty-backed,
as it showed what I have always thought of as "typical" Slaty-backed winter
adult head pattern of broad smudgy nape streaks (mixed with fine brown
streaking at close range? but we were not at close range) and the tapered
dark eye patch about a pale yellow eye. It also might have shown the
"necklace" just short of the wingtip, but vouchsafed me but one fleeting
opportunity to see if it did or it didn't (and I thought it did). It flew
off and landed on a flat-topped roof that prevented any closer scrutiny at
that time.

The second odd individual seemed to have a rather heavy, Western-like bill,
but the bill was pale yellow and without the red spot (the former possible
Slaty-backed and the classic Western had butter-yellow bills with red gonys
spots), perhaps suggesting malnutrition, as it had an all white tail and
perfectly adult mantle and primaries. The underside of the outer primaries
appeared paler than in a Western, but I was not able to discern the presence
or absence of the "necklace." The head was not immaculate white but showed a
hint of the "Slaty-backed" nape smudging and eye patch, but much less
noticeable than on the former bird. The iris was a baleful yellowish-white
at close range. Both these suspicious individuals were a half shade darker
on the mantle than the "classic" adult, immaculate headed Western, but not
so dark as to grab you by the teeth!

There was also a Pseudo-Glaucous Gull, with a very nice two-toned pink and
dusky bill, very pale body, but dusky gray primaries and tail. A very worn
and bleached 2nd winter Glaucous-winged, I would surmise.

In any case, I am more than ever puzzled about Slaty-backed identification.
Based on the one bird whose foto is now posted, observers are assuming that
a definitive feature of Slaty-backed Gull is a "Thayer's-like" bill, but the
fotos in Grant suggested otherwise, i.e., that the typical Slaty-backed has
a bill at least as strong as a local Herring Gull, if slighter at least than
the heavy extremes of Western and Glaucous-wingeds. However, I believe that
Ruth's bird is quite extreme on the dainty end of the scale. The fotos in
Grant's Gull Bible also show many Slaty-backed Gulls with mantles that do
not appear any darker than typical northern Western Gulls. But, then again,
you can't trust fotos to always tell the truth. There are either a number of
Slaty-backed Gulls slipping through without being identified because they
are not "typical," or Western Gull's can show a much wider range of eye
colors, winter head patterns, wing-tip patterns, etc., than I have assumed.