Hello Kelly and Chris,
First thank you Kelly to post the photo of the Bohamian Waxwing you found
on Christmas Eve on Mud Bay,i believe this bird is a first for the
County.Seeing the photo of you Gull, i must agree with Chris,that this bird
is a Herring Gull,it is verry typical heavy body with a pale yellow eye and
a large bill.Where yoy found this bird we usual seeig three Herrig Gulls
there when we birding there.


Ruth Sullivan Tacoma
----- Original Message -----
From: Chris Hill <chill at kingfish.coastal.edu>
To: Kelly Mcallister <mcallkrm at dfw.wa.gov>
Cc: <tweeters at u.washington.edu>
Sent: Sunday, January 13, 2002 1:48 PM
Subject: Gull pictures (long)


> >
> > The other two photos were taken during my brief attempt at sorting out
adult gull identification
> > at Perry Creek mouth, Mud Bay, Thurston County, Washington. I will
probably work on
> > creating hyperlinks for these photos so that each one can be viewed at a
larger size on the
> > screen. As it is, I don't think the gull's pale eyes can be seen. I am
calling it a Herring
> > Gull but I am open to correction, if the photos are good enough to allow
independent evaluation.
> > I think the bill is too large and heavy for it to be a pale-eyed
Thayer's Gull.
> >
> > Hope to hear from anybody who cares to take a look.
>
> Kelly,
>
> to me, the flat head and long bill sure look like Herring Gull. More than
> that, the wingtip pattern looks much more like Herring than Thayers. If
> you look at that black-and-white area that corresponds to the tips of the
> primaries on the folded wing, the impression I get on your bird is of big
> black feathers with small white tips. On all the Thayers I saw in Puget
> Sound, that area looked like a row of a checkerboard - black and white
> "squares," equal in width. Although Thayers vary regionally, I've
> found that pattern a distinctive "checkpoint" when looking at possible
> Thayers in WA. In adults only, of course, but this bird looks like a full
> adult.
>
> Of course, the white would tend to decrease over time through wear, but
> (1) this bird has *really* small spots, and (2) I'd only worry about
> dramatic wear if this picture were taken in May or June. Gulls are in
> pretty fresh plumage through the winter.
>
> I used to have such a hard time finding Herring Gulls in Puget Sound. I
> swear, I think Herring is more *overreported* (on CBCs especially) than
> any other gull species. But if you reported this as a Herring, I would
> believe it no problem, even if you hadn't seen pale eyes.
>
> Other than the light eye, I'd be more worried about this bird being a
> GWG-WG hybrid than a Thayers. However, most hybrids I see that are that
> dark in the wingtip are very white on the head in winter (Western
> Gull-like). I have a hard time judging mantle color on a sunlit
> photograph, so I probably shouldn't even try. Your bird's back appears
> pretty dark for a Herring, more like a GWG-HG hybrid, but that could just
> be the lighting. I'd expect a hybrid's bill to be more bulbous, less
> long, but perhaps I'm overanalyzing that. I can't see if the wingtips are
> truly black (like Herring) or dark gray (like most hybrids).
>
> Anyway, I'm no expert, but in my opinon, it's no Thayers, and has several
> features that point towards Herring rather than a mongrel.
>
> I'm off to the local dump tomorrow to sort through a few thousand gulls
> (mostly ring-billed and herring) for other goodies, so this is a good
> mental warmup.
>
> I'd be interested to hear what others think.
>
> Nice photos of the Waxwing, too, by the way.
>
> Chris Hill
> Conway, SC (formerly, Everett, WA)
> chill at coastal.edu
>