An interesting large flock of northern gulls has beenbuilding at low
tide in North Siletz Bay the last fewdays as it sometimes does in
fall/winter. Unfortunatelyas usual they tend to be quite flighty and
frequentlyshifting, settling far away from human approach.Today there
were over 1800 in multiple groups.
From the dock this afternoon I was able to samplea large section from
a distance in decent light. It included a 1st-cycle Glaucous and (at
least) 2Herring-like adults with obviously darker mantleshade,
approaching but (apparently) still slightlypaler than nearby Westerns.
Along with Herring-likebill and head shape and size I could see heavy
definednape streaking and pink legs on both, a P9 mirror onat least
one, and both had fairly large apical spots unlike nearby Westerns.
Too distant to see iris color or other fine detail, and I was not able
to see the spread wings.
Phil
