Greetings all...
Since this bird (see links below) was brought to the attention of Tweeters,
I thought I'd make some comments on it.

To me, it doesn't look like there necessarily has to be any Glaucous genes
in that bird at all. Rather, I think it is just a sort of pale Herring.
While the bill pattern is tantalizing, it seems just fine also for a 2nd
year Herring. As for the size, Herrings are known to get even bulkier than
this bird. Glaucous tend to have short, stouter bills than this. I expect
Glaucous hybrids to have a lighter tailband with more marbling throughout,
or at least in the outer rectrices. The spread wing pattern seems just like
most Herring Gulls to me. At any rate this isn't a good reference photo of
Nelson's Gull.

As for the Great Black-backed Gull at Lake Washington, it doesn't really
resemble a Glaucous hybrid. Noticeable are the near-black adult feathers
coming in on the mantle, and the primaries and tail band are BLACK.

Cheers and good gulling
Charlie Wright

PS - Ryan Shaw found a photo on the web of a Great Black-backed in Mexico
that is virtually identical to the King County individual. That bird's age
is also uncertain; see the photos at:
http://www.martinreid.com/gbbgp02.html

----- Original Message -----
From: "Mike Patterson" <celata at pacifier.com>
To: <tweeters at u.washington.edu>
Sent: Thursday, January 15, 2004 2:04 PM
Subject: Re: Great Black-backed Gull

> Speaking as a devout gull non-expert, I think there's one
> other possibility that needs to be excluded, Nelson's Gull
> or HerringxGlaucous. We had a recent discussion about one
> of these beasties on the ugly gull discussion forum and I
> have pictures of one from Westmoreland Park in Portland
> photographed by Wayne Hoffman
>
> http://home.pacifier.com/~mpatters/bird/uggu/hoff20031126_02.jpg
> http://home.pacifier.com/~mpatters/bird/uggu/hoff20031126_02a.jpg
> http://home.pacifier.com/~mpatters/bird/uggu/hoff20031126_03.jpg
> http://home.pacifier.com/~mpatters/bird/uggu/hoff20031126_04.jpg
>
> Mind you, based on the pictures, I could go either way, but
> those looking closely at the live bird will want to look for
> additional features that exclude this fairly common hybrid.
>
> --
> Mike Patterson
> Astoria, OR
> celata AT pacifier.com