[wisb] Paul's gull at Prairie du Sac
- From: "Steve Thiessen" <stevethiessen@xxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: "wisb" <wisbirdn@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Fri, 10 Dec 2010 21:01:45 -0600
Nolan Pope and I went up for gulls today. Lots of gulls around the dam area.
We saw 1 possibly 2 light 1st winter Thayer's and, what I imagine, the darker
mantled gull that Paul was struggling with. Guess what, I'm struggling with it
also. We had great views sitting and flying. The gulls mantle color was 2 (or
3) shades darker than the regular herrings.Once you spotted it, it was easy to
pick out. If I had to pick a comparable gull color maybe a very light lesser
black-backed (graelsii type) or a very dark vega type herring (of which I have
no experience) It was the size of the biggest herrings. Seemed slightly larger
than most it went by. Even hunched over and chased a few away from it's space.
It's legs were pink (not the winter non-color), including the webbing in the
feet. The primary extention past the tail seemed average, like a herring gulls.
Bill was yellow an was fairly thick, by this I mean not slender like some l
b-b's. I know this is highly variable. It has a large red gony spot. It had
medium yellow eyes. We couldn't see any eye ring color. When sitting the black
of the primaries was very distinct from the mantle color. The primaries had
average white ends. And a mirror on p-10 and I think on p-9. Sitting it had a
had a fairly thick white cresent.
When flying the underside of the flight feathers had a light gray shade to
them, not white like the herrings. In glimps it gave the look of sub- terminal
marking from the bottom. This may have been from the bright sun. From the top ,
I didn't see any obvious moons on p5-7.
So what all this means is I would love to see a few photos of it's wings. My
eyes weren't keeping up to the movement.
Steve Thiessen Stoughton Dane co.
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