Hi Tweets,
I have one question that has been boggling my mind ever since I observed the
LBGU this past Friday. I have heard this bird called a 3rd winter bird, but
I am thinking that it is a 4th winter bird with only the bill having a slight
blackish spot on the bill, but also showing yellow on the remainder of the
bill. The mantle to me looked uniform blackish with no trace of brownish
mottling that to me would indicate a 3rd winter bird. If only I would have
seen the bird fly so that I could see if there was any streaking on the tail,
but it was just sitting when I was observing it over a half hour period of
time. Although Jim Nester's photos don't show any streaking at all on the
tail as I would think a 3rd winter bird would have. I do wish now that I
would have taken a closer look at the bird after the excitement of seeing
this species in washington wore off.
But take a look at the 3rd winter Lesser Black-backed Gull on Joe Morlan's
Rarity page, < http://fog.ccsf.cc.ca.us/~jmorlan/gallery.htm > which
shows an all dark bill (Granted the photo was taken in December) but also the
bird shows alot more brown mottling on the mantle, which in my opinion the
bird here in washington lacked.
I have had experience observing all ages of LBGU's at close range at Cape
Point North Carolina near Hatteras in late march of last year, even a 3rd
winter bird, which had the characteristic mottled brown appearance to part of
the mantle. And to just clarify mantle, I'm including the scapulars, Lesser
coverts, etc...
I have looked in the book Grant's Gulls, 2nd Edition, page 104 ,and it states
that "some, possibly mainly 4th winter birds have blackish of variable extent
on the bill"
I'd like to hear what anyone else thinks about this, since I have yet to read
a post or hear a report with any details that indicates this bird is a 3rd
winter bird.
Here's the URL to Jim Nesters photos for comparison to the bird on Joe
Morlan's site. http://homepages.wwc.edu/staff/nestja/BIRDS/birding.htm

Just a thought to ponder...
Ryan Shaw
Lacey, WA
rtshaw80 at aol.com