Hello! I wanted to clarify about one of the gulls photographed/mentioned from yesterday's email. The "Nelson's Gull" that I mentioned is actually a 2nd-cycle Thayer's Gull. Up until doing some reading and emailing, I was led to a different gull species. Here are the photos posted yesterday...
http://www.pbase.com/image/130753700 http://www.pbase.com/image/130753701 http://www.pbase.com/image/130753702 Here's my write-up as for why the bird in the photos is a 2nd-cycle Thayer's Gull, and not a Nelson's Gull. Mike Hendrickson helped me out with this, and was the one who originally caught the mis-ID. This bird has a smooth, round and slender head (Thayer's Gull trait). Glaucous Gulls and Herring Gulls, and their hybrid counterparts (Nelson's Gulls) all have relatively blockier-looking heads. Although the relative size of the neck can change due to the angle at which the bird is viewed, I've noticed that when the head is fully extended, Thayer's Gulls tend to have a more slender-necked look, whereas the Herring Gulls have a thicker-looking neck. The gull in the photos has a grayish scapular (central-back) region, which when bordered with brown wings, is usually a 2nd-cycle (2nd-year) trait of many gulls. The bill on this bird is bi-colored. The inside of the bill is pink, and the end is black. Because of the plumage mentioned earlier, this bird is a 2nd-cycle bird. A Nelson's Gull would be much paler throughout much of the wing. The upper-wings (when wings are folded in) are plain and smudged looking, of tan/brown tones with 2nd-Cycle Thayer's Gulls. This bird clearly shows that. The secondaries (inner flight feathers on the back of the wing) on this bird look very pale, and evenly tan in color with much of the wing. Howell and Dunne's "Gulls of the Americas" mentions this field mark in 2nd-cycle Thayer's Gulls, regarding the secondaries. It's amazing how much variation there is in gulls! I wonder what birds were swept into the northwoods with today's snow storm! We'll have to see... Good birdwatching, Erik Bruhnke Duluth, MN NATURALLY AVIAN - Bird Photography and Guided Bird Hikes www.pbase.com/birdfedr birdf...@gmail.com ---- Join or Leave mou-net: http://lists.umn.edu/cgi-bin/wa?SUBED1=mou-net Archives: http://lists.umn.edu/archives/mou-net.html
