The bird Marcus Roening and I observed on Aug. 6 was the Black-tailed Gull
that was reported by Charlie Wright. Today after birding with Charlie, we viewed
his excellent video of this bird. The video matched exactly down to the
feather wear on the secondaries of the bird we observed.
I would like to highlight some of my notes that I took.
Size: very similar to that of the many Herrmann's Gulls next to it, smaller
than the many different age California Gulls, also next to it, larger than the
one Ring-billed Gull near it. The size alone ruled out Cal. Gull immediately.
Mantle color: several shades grayer than the many different aged Ca. Gulls
next to it, and of course much darker than the light gray mantle of a Ring-bill.
This alone ruled out any of the Ca. Gulls near.
Bill: the first 2/3ths of the bill was a bright yellow, towards the tip was a
black band that made up most of the other 1/3th of the bill except for a
bright red tip that was very noticeable up close. This was not the little red mark
in back of the black mark on the tip of a Ca. Gull. In fact I have never seen
this color combination on any gulls bill in my 30 plus years of birding. This
alone ruled out any Ca. Gulls present.
I should also mention that this was a relatively long, and slender bill that
rules out the shorter bills of other gulls, namely Mew Gull which a couple
were also present.
Legs: bright yellow, this did not rule out Ca. Gull, Ring-billed or even Mew.

Eye: color yellow with a reddish orbital ring. This alone again rules out Ca.
Gull. Also there was white eye -crescents that I have never seen on a Ca.
Gull.
Primaries: black with no white at tip, in the quick views we had of it in
flight there was no white mirrors. Adult Ca. Gulls have white tips in flight
Age: based on the gray marks on the head this bird looked like it was going
into its first adult plumage.
Finally, after viewing Charlie's video we conclude that this bird does not
have as thick of a subterminal tail band as many of the field guides show. In
the video of the bird in flight we did not see the black tail. However, the
sitting photos do show it occasionally. Marcus and I might have mistaken the
black primaries at times for a look at the tail. Whatever the reason we didn't
nail the black tail at 25 yards, this bird from this brief highlight was clearly
the bird Charlie saw.
Finally, the bird that Mike refers to as the one Marcus saw, simply wasn't. I
believe that the description that Marcus wrote was clear and not that of a
Ca. Gull. This is not a case of over -enthusiasm. Marcus and I have put in many
years of birding and we make damn sure we know what we are talking about
before making public announcements.

Bruce LaBar
Tacoma,WA.
snyderlabar at aol.com [new address is blabar at harbornet.com