[wisb] Barrow's Goldeneye, gulls/Sheboygan County
- From: "Tom Wood" <tcwood729@xxxxxxxxx>
- To: <Wisbirdn@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Sun, 5 Feb 2012 18:16:46 -0600
The Barrow's Goldeneye was at Sheboygan's North Point Park out about 75
yards from the parking lot. It was among just 3 Common Goldeneye.
If looking for this bird and not finding it in the Sheboygan river mouth,
try the river upstream to the 8th street bridge or at North Point. I have
seen it
at all those locations.
Gulls I saw besides Herring and Ring-billed included several Great
Black-backed Gulls and Glaucous Gulls, an adult Thayer's, and the mystery
gull.
The mystery gull is an adult gull with white wingtips that Jerry and Kevin
DeBoer saw at North Point. Jerry thought it had all the characteristics of
an Iceland Gull except for size and asked me to post what I thought if I saw
it. Unfortunately, when I got there, some children were chasing the
birds and when I finally located what I suspect to be the gull in question,
it was about a quarter mile out. I'm afraid I'm not going to be of much
help,
but here are my findings:
Points against Iceland are the wingtips which appeared to me to be unmarked
white. This would put it in the Glaucoides race, which I have never
seen. Wintering birds in Wisconsin are mostly, if not all ,of the Kumleini
race and show at least some faint gray barring on the wingtips.
Additionally, the size
may be a problem. Jerry felt it was the same size as a Herring Gull , which
due to the variation in Herring Gull size might not be a problem ,except to
me in the
photo Kevin took, it seemed slightly larger than the Herring Gull. Iceland
Gulls are slightly smaller than most Herring Gulls.
Poiints for Iceland are that the the wingtips extended beyond the tail (far
enough? At 1/4 mile I can't decide). The bill seemed shorter and less bulky
than
a Glaucous Gull's bill, the head rounder and not flat on top like a
Glaucous, and my general impression of the size was that it was less bulky
than a Glaucous
Gull. However at this distance it is too hard to tell. If I was forced to
make a decision, I would probably pick a small Glaucous Gull.
The easy way out is for Jerry or Kevin to post their photos and let John
Idzikowski, our state gull expert, identify it.
Thomas Wood, Menomonee Falls, Waukesha County
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- » [wisb] Barrow's Goldeneye, gulls/Sheboygan County - Tom Wood
