This afternoon at the gull puddle area of the Yaquina Bay south jetty Laura and
I saw an adult gull as dark as the one in Mike's photo. I tried to turn it into
a Slaty-backed, but a number of features on the bird forbid it. The string of
pearls on the inner primaries was not present. The bill was too long and the
gonydeal angle too sharp. The width of the white on the edge of the closed wing
was too narrow, although the feathers were obviously very worn, and therefore
shortened. The eye, while lighter than would normally be expected on a Western
Gull, was not nearly pale enough to support Slaty-backed. Features which
suggested the possibility of that species were the mantle color, what appeared
to be a circular, reddish orbital ring, (I could have been mistaken on this
point, as it was difficult to see for certain) and a rather dark smudge around
and behind the eye. This particular bird had a badly injured leg, so would be
easily recognizable to anyone else who happened to see it. I would state
categorically that it was not a Slaty-backed, but If it sticks around I would
be interested to hear any comments regarding it by others who might encounter
it.
Darrel
From: "Mike Patterson" <celata@xxxxxxxxxxxx>
To: "OBOL" <obol@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>, "swalalahos" <swalalahos@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Sunday, April 9, 2017 11:52:46 AM
Subject: [obol] PHOTOS: Slaty-backed Gull today
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/5626201 ;
--
Mike Patterson
Astoria, OR
That question...
http://www.surfbirds.com/community-blogs/northcoastdiaries/?p=3294 ;
POST: Send your post to obol@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
JOIN OR QUIT: //www.freelists.org/list/obol ;
OBOL archives: www.freelists.org/archive/obol
Contact moderator: obol-moderators@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
