Subject: [Tweeters] possible Slaty-backed Gull at Cedar River mouth
Date: Nov 24 14:01:57 2005
From: Eugene and Nancy Hunn - enhunn323 at comcast.net


Tweets,

I checked the gulls at the Cedar River mouth (Renton Airport) about noon today on my way to SeaTac to pick up my daughter and son-in-law for Thanksgiving and had one odd gull I suspect was an adult Slaty-backed.

There were about 200 gulls loafing off the end of the runway. Most were Glaucous-winged and GW x Western hybrids. There were also a few Ring-billed, Herring, and Thayer's and one good Western Gull.

The odd gull was a full adult, as dark mantled as our typical Western Gull, but with a starkly whitish iris, what appeared to be a reddish orbital ring, dusky scaling on the nape and some dusky shading about the eye, but not as much as I would have expected for the "classic" Slaty-backed adult in winter. The bill also seemed heavy for Slaty-backed, but was both deep and long, rich yellow with a nice red gonydeal spot. Pink feet. The primaries were black but with a large white subterminal window visible beneath the outer primary (and the undersurface of the primaries generally was dusky, not black), while the sixth primary showed a white band between the narrow subterminal black band and the dark gray feather base. I did not see it in flight or with the wing fully spread, but it seemed quite unlike any Western or hybrid. Assuming it was a Slaty-backed it was most likely a male given its size and bill heft. Sorry, no fotos.

I also saw two White-throated Sparrows early this morning at the usual spot at Marymoor Park (the little hill just east of the main dog run area parking lot). One was a text-book adult white-striped bird, the other likely an adult buff-striped.

Gene Hunn
18476 47th Pl NE
Lake Forest Park, WA