Ok, all the looking at these gulls on the Clark campus has finally paid
off in a stumper. I didn't have binoculars, and the description of the
eye is non-existent, but here's something to mull over.

Age: Adult bird.

Size: Smaller than the Glaucous-winged and Glaucous-winged x Westerns
(hereafter GW's) in the same flock around it.

Head and bill shape: The head was somewhat more rounded than the GW's
There was no real streaking on the head or neck at all. It was a white
headed bird. The bill was a pale yellow with a red spot. The bill was
about 3/4 the length of the GW's bill, smaller in proportion to the head,
with a less pronounced gonys. The bird almost appeared to have a chin
strap sort of line on the neck underneath the bill--I'm not sure if this
was due to some dirt or what.

Back: A grey a shade lighter than the GW's. It was uniform in color.

Wings: All grey. The wingtips as shown on the standing bird were a mix
of white with some grey areas. The pattern of the wingtips was much more
predominantly white than grey, and the grey was very light. when the bird
flew, the primaries appeared lighter than the rest of the wing, the ends
were white.
It also seemed that the primary extension in comparison to the
tail was not as long as in the GW's around it.

Tail: White.

Leg color: pinkish.

Eye color: ?

The size of the bird was what first drew me to it, then the sort of odd
chinstrap, then the whiter wing tips. It was definitiely a strange
looking gull of some origin I'm not used to seeing. My thoughts are some
sort of Glaucous X Glaucous-winged, but I'm open to other thoughts.

Have fun with this. I'll be off line 'til tomorrow and look forward to
your musings.
Ray K
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
Ray Korpi "Television doesn't allow much depth."
Portland, OR/Vancouver, WA --Dan Rather, interviewed by
rkorpi at clark.edu Don Imus, 11/6/97
Compiler, Portland, OR CBC, January 3, 1998
President, Oregon Field Ornithologists
--New members always welcome--