Hi tweets,

This afternoon about halfway out on the righthand ("flats" side, not river side) of the outer boardwalk at Nisqually, I spent some time working through a mixed group of intermediate sized gulls. Obvious ring-billed gulls, obvious mew gulls, and an odd individual.

No camera, no photos. It was foraging with a ring-billed in adult plumage, so I had direct comparison. The bird was slightly smaller, with a slightly darker mantle, but the real striking feature was the complete absence of mirrors or any white patterning to the all-dark wingtips. This was striking as the bird flew. There were smudgy black spots on the outer feathers of the tail. There was a "ring" on the bill, but the shape was different from the ring-billed, as was the size of the bill- somewhat lighter than the ring-billed. The head was quite a bit more "gentle" than the ring-billed.

In consultation with Howell and Dunn, and taking into consideration the differences between the sexes and individual variation, I realize that this description largely matches with a third-cycle ring-billed in PB3 molt
but something still does not feel quite right. So if you are walking Nisqually tomorrow, please keep an eye out for it and respond.

Sea McKeon
mckeons at evergreen dot edu
Olympia, WA