Unidentified Gull (Larus sp) observed at McDonalds on 19 February 2008.

This gull is another mixed bag of characters.

Once again, I had difficulty getting photos of this bird with other individuals of more obvious identity. Unfortunately, I was also unable to get a straight profile shot. That said, my impression was that the size of this bird seemed consistent with what I consider normal for Thayer’s Gulls. It seemed pretty small to me for a Glaucous-winged Gull.

Despite the apparently small size, I probably would have figured it was a Glaucous-winged Gull due to the gray wing-tips, since, as a relative new-comer to the challenges of gull identification, I tend to privilege that easy-to-see field-mark over others (though perhaps I shouldn’t). However, I’ve never seen an otherwise obvious Glaucous-winged Gull with pale eyes. After looking in Gulls of the Americas, I see that up to 1% of Glaucous-winged Gulls can have paler eyes, but the example given there has eyes that are nowhere near as pale this gull’s. I thought Kumlien’s Gull might be a possibility, but they seem quite a bit paler overall, from what I can tell.

I saw a similar gull last year (look at the last gull in the entry) and thought it was probably a Glaucous-winged Gull, but now I’m even less sure. Still, I can’t think of any reasonable hybrid combination that might result in this particular blend of characters.

Any help with this identification is certainly appreciated.

Unidentified Gull (Larus sp) observed at McDonalds on 19 February 2008.

Mid-February seems to bring the arrival of mystery gull season. I’m not sure if it’s just an impression, or actually true in practice, but it seems like around this time more large gulls show up around town where they are easy to observe. For them, it’s the lean time of year, and the food available around town certainly plays a role in the gathering. Once the herring really move in during late March or early April, they are very abundant, though not always as easy to observe closely, and gradually numbers thin out a bit as spring heads into summer.

I recently took pictures of three different gulls which are giving me a little identification trouble. I also realized that I have some photos of gulls from last year around this time that I have yet to get conclusively identified. Rather than cram them all into one post, I think I’ll let this be the start of a series of mystery gull posts.