[wisb] Probable Thayer's Gull-Manitowoc County

From: Chris West <little_blue_birdie@xxxxxxx>
To: "[Wisb]" <wisbirdn@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Date: Sun, 23 May 2010 21:46:50 -0500
Hi all, 
I was scoping the lake from Fischer Creek Park this morning and had an 
interesting gull fly by at eye level.  I quickly got the scope on it and 
followed it for a while.  My conclusion was that it was either a very very 
light Herring Gull, or a 1st year (maybe molting into 2nd year) Thayer's Gull. 
I first noticed the bird when the sunlight shone through it's translucent 
primaries. I followed it for a while watching the effects of different angles 
of light both behind and on the bird. 
It was a gull of smaller stature. More delicate-looking that the nearby 
Herrings. A smaller, more delicate head shape in flight and an apparent all 
dark bill.The bird was mostly a fairly uniform grayish-brown mottling, esp on 
the chest but did show some signs of beginning to molt secondaries and some 
mantle feathers. Overall, it appeared to be much paler than some of the other 
immature Herrings. 
There was practically no black or brown on the under-side of the primaries (I 
checked when the light hit it straight on) and the upper side had limited brown 
rather than black. I almost called it an Iceland.

I'm going through all this due to the time of year. It's a tad late for a 
Thayer's to be hanging around methinks. At any rate, it was definitely an 
interesting bird. I'm leaving the ID at probable Thayer's since I'm not used to 
attempting to ID 1st cycle birds in flight. They're usually sitting on ice 5 
miles away.......




Happy Birding! --Chris W, Richland County 
http://swallowtailedkite.blogspot.com/ 
http://www.flickr.com/photos/swallowtailphoto

"The beauty and genius of a work of art may be reconceived, though its first 
material expression be destroyed; a vanished harmony may yet again inspire the 
composer; but when the last individual of a race of living things breathes no 
more, another heaven and another earth must pass before such a one can be 
again."

(From William Beebe's "The Bird: Its Form and Function," 1906)

                                          
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[wisb] Probable Thayer's Gull-Manitowoc County

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