I heard second-hand about a Long-tailed Jaeger at Craney Island found this
afternoon by Dan Cristol, Bill Williams, and party - a great first Portsmouth
record and certainly one of Ivan's birds. The observers will likely post more
when they're back to a computer. Anyone with time to kill should consider
poking around for storm birds this afternoon and tomorrow - no telling what
this
awful storm has put down in Virginia on lakes, the Bay, and ocean beaches.
Winds at Cape Charles now are gusting into the high 30s.
In Cape Charles, in addition to the (advanced) second-cycle Lesser
Black-backed Gull on the beach this morning (and still there this evening!),
three
'adult' (definitive basic) and two other different second-cycle individuals
(one
more like a worn juv. in plumage, the other with mantle slaty but mostly worn
juv. coverts) were noted by myself and by Todd Day, Linda Fields, and Alan
Schreck between 1520 and 1630 this afternoon adjacent Crystal Lake in the
Marina
Villages subdivision of Cape Charles. About 1000 gulls were roosting on
undeveloped lots during the passage of the 'backside' of the storm. One of the
adult
Lessers had pinkish legs, not a common feature but occasionally seen. This
is by far the most Lessers I've seen in town (one per year is normal!). This
is the early part of the peak of adult and subadult migration in this area, I
think (juveniles come much later), but still we never seen the numbers here
that Sandbridge gets (30-50 per day).
Also in this flock was a very large slaty-backed gull showing many of the
characters of Kelp Gull. All four of us got a good study of this bird at a
car's
length away or so. It was rather worn, in transition either from definitive
alternate to definitive basic or vice-versa (bill, gape, and orbital ring were
brilliant in color but coverts and remiges were worn). The legs were a dusky
yellow with a greenish cast, the eye rather pale, the gape strikingly scarlet,
the orbital ring reddish. The bird's build was definitely smaller than that
of Great Black-backed but beefier than all adjacent Herring Gulls and with a
sturdy (both long and heavy) bill showing a prominent cherry gonys spot. The
upperparts were a shade paler than most adult Great Black-backeds' (which vary,
of course) but darker than those of the adult graellsii Lessers present,
clearly. The greenish cast to the legs was most easily discerned when the leg
color was compared to the brighter yellow bill. Details of primaries and
tertial
& scapular crescents were seen and photographed but did not seem helpful to
rule in/out any species or hybrid combination because of wear. Three primary
tips (barely) projected past the tail tip. Tail and underparts pure white; the
head was white (and very wet - stormy conditions), with a few hints of dusky
that may have just been very wet feathers sticking together. I haven't yet
made use of good books that illustrate Kelp plumages, as I've got dinner plans
(curses!), but I'll post more here if other thoughts arise on this bird.
I considered Herring x Lesser (too large for that, I think) and Herring x
Great Black-backed (would not have greenish-yellow legs), and I don't think
Great
Black-backed x Lesser Black-backed is known (but could be similar?). I
considered a gigantic Lesser (not out of the question), but the bird just
didn't
look like a large male Lesser - its girth was too great. Yellow-footed Gull
would show a deeper bill, certainly. Kelps in Louisiana have hybridized
extensively with Herrings, and we're still a few years away from an illustrated
paper
appearing on those hybrids, as I understand it.
After an hour of study and two rolls of film, I'm still uncertain what this
bird was. I know Kelp Gull well enough from Argentina, Chile, and Argentina,
but I'm hesitant to identify one out of range - in part because of various
Great Black-backed Gull hybrids out there, in part because pure Kelps are
scarce
in the Gulf of Mexico on current knowledge. But keep your eye on black-backed
gulls with yellow legs this fall! Maybe we'll get a Kelp Gull dead to rights.
Apparently, Maryland's bird is back in place at Sandgates this fall!
Ned Brinkley
Cape Charles, VA
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