Hello Joe,

Thank you for the photo,but that is NOT the Slaty-backed Gull for sure. There bird appears to good field marks for an adult intergrade between Glaucous-winged and Western Gull("Olympic"Gull). The lighting could have played a role in just how dark the bird really was too. The Slaty-backed Gull is very dark mantled in all lighting situations and an obvious bird and shows all classic field marks of this species. These characteristics include wide tertials,very dark"slate-gray"mantle(darker than any of our Western Gulls). Other field marks for a Slaty-backed Gull include a nice rounded head(with some obvious streaking)and a refined straw-yellow bill NOT at all as clunky than in the bird you photographed. We did have at least 2 pure Western Gulls there yesterday,which were much darker tan the bird you photographed,but NOT as dark as a true Slaty-backed Gull. The Slaty-backed Gull also has a very pale eye with dark smudginess around it giving the bird a somewhat "black-eyed" appearance. You can see photos of the Slaty-backed Gull from the mouth of Cedar River on Marv Breece's website. Anyhow,that is our thoughts about the dark-mantled gull you photograophed yesterday at the mouth of the Cedar River.

Sincerely,

Ruth and Patrick Sullivan
----- Original Message -----
From: Joseph V Higbee
To: tweeters at u.washington.edu
Sent: Monday, January 29, 2007 10:40 AM
Subject: [Tweeters] Dark-mantled gull at Renton


I have posted the gull.
http://www.pbase.com/image/73720908

Joseph V Higbee
Spanaway, WA
mailto: jvhigbee at hotmail.com


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