I think bleaching of the pigment can happen in eitherGlaucous or
pale-end G-w (and some Thayer's) beforesignificant wear/abrasion
becomes obvious. In fact itwould make sense that the bleaching itself
is one of the factors that contributes to being prone to abrasion. In
this case the patterning on the greater coverts and elsewhere is
almost completely wiped out, so you can tell there has been at least
moderate bleaching.
Most Glaucous have noticeably less gonydeal angle,so a straighter bill
would at least be a point for thehybrid hypothesis. As it is the
subjective packagethat is the bill and head shape, eye
position/facialexpression etc. combined with the brownish eyearcs
looks exactly like a G-w to me with no hint ofbeing even slightly off.
Phil
-----------------------------------------From: "Alan Contreras"
To: philliplc@xxxxxxxxxxx
Cc: "obol@xxxxxxxxxxxxx"
Sent: Tuesday January 15 2019 11:02:09PM
Subject: Re: [obol] Re: Lane coast birds + Yachats, hybrid gull
There did not seem to be any serious feather wear, though I suppose
that is hard to discern until it is suddenly obvious. Does the large
and obvious gonydeal angle tell us anything useful?
