Assuming it is the same bird, I can't help but wonder if the bird shown in the photos here isn't a Glaucous-winged X Glaucous hybrid?
http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist?subID=S12716613 Overall it looks pretty pale, has some pink showing through on the basal 2/3 of the bill, and has fairly well marked upper parts, i.e., the mantle and upperwing feathers look like they're showing a lot of pale with darker internal markings, very reminiscent of Glaucous Gull. Thoughts? Paul Hurtado Columbus, OH (& Pueblo, CO) On Thu, Jan 24, 2013 at 5:53 PM, William H Kaempfer < [email protected]> wrote: > John Vanderpoel and I observed a first cycle Glaucous-winged Gull this > morning at Teller Lake #5 in Boulder (off Valmont near 95th St.) **** > > ** ** > > Teller 5 is excellent for gulls right now and worth a visit (even if that > %@#$ Golden-crowned Sparrow can’t be found). The lake dried out this past > fall leaving a harvest of dead fish, mainly huge catfish, I think, in the > frozen mud toward the east end of the reservoir. This attracts a group of > about 100 gulls during the day. There are two noteworthy things about this > collection of gulls. First since they are feeding on dead fish the flock > is mainly large, pink-legged gulls. I would say that only 25% are > Ring-billed Gulls which is unheard of in Colorado for a group of 100+ > gulls. Second, because they are feeding, one can get quite close to them > (within 100 yards) and have excellent views. This group has had multiple > Thayer’s plus Lesser Black-backed, Great Black-backed and now > Glaucous-winged in the past week. Interestingly, all of these good birds > have been first (or second) cycle.**** > > ** ** > > Here is my (probably lame) description of the Glaucous-winged from eBird: > Large > first cycle gull. Overall larger than nearby 1st cycle Thayer's. Uniform > pale tan overall with wingtips not differentiated from overall color of the > bird. Large all black bill.**** > > ** ** > > Bill Kaempfer**** > > Boulder**** > > -- > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups > "Colorado Birds" group. > To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. > To unsubscribe from this group, send email to > [email protected]. > For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/groups/opt_out. > > > -- Paul J. Hurtado Postdoctoral Fellow, The Ohio State University Mathematical Biosciences Institute, http://mbi.osu.edu/ Aquatic Ecology Laboratory, http://ael.osu.edu/ E-mail: [email protected] Webpage: http://people.mbi.ohio-state.edu/hurtado.10 -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Colorado Birds" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected]. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/groups/opt_out.
