Hi,



I was in Westport checking on the gulls (and still have one or two that are
confusing me). But there was a nice adult POMARINE JAEGER sheltering and
preening on the wetland just landwards of half-moon cove, and a dead adult
CALIFORNIA GULL was photographed and appears to show features of the
more-northern-breeding allegedly more-southern-and-inland-wintering
albertaensis race.



Regarding the lesser black-backed gull in eastern Washington, has anyone had
a good look at the primary molt? My understanding is that while Heuglin's
Gull can be virtually indistinguishable from LBBG, at this time of the year
LBBG ought to have almost complete primary molt (the outermost one or two
primaries new but short, perhaps), which should be relatively easy to see. I
would love to hear from anyone who has looked at it closely in that regard
(and it would be nice to document that feature for the record). (Forgive me
if this has already been discussed and I missed it).



Cheers,

Nigel Ball,

Bainbridge Island.