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Adult gull and unknown swift/swallow from Cape Hatteras (1 Viewer)

T

Terry O'Nolley

Cow-headed Jaybird
The adult gull - I have no idea. Except for the really obvious ones they simply baffle me. I thought the pictures were in focus :( I forgot they eye color and the leg color in the pic looks yellow - which would rule out Greater Black-backed gull.

The swallow, on the other hand, I think might be a Purple Martin. It was quite dark - both above and below and does have a forked tail (which I think rules just about everything else out). But, because of the lighting, I only saw "dark" never the metallic deep purple sheen of Purple Martins I have seen in the past.

Any ideas?
 

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I think you've nailed it with Purple Martin. The gull is a bit tricky... I'm thinking Lesser Black-backed Gull. I make out yellowish legs and feet, and the jizz appears right for this bird. They are still very rare on the west coast (I'm in CA) but I don't know their status on the east coast.
 
Hi Terry.
The Gull, LBBG or Kelp Gull? Broad white tertial and scapular crescents, and, although a difficult angle, primary projection seems short, favours Kelp over LBBG. Kelp Gull has black upperparts and black primaries with little contrast (like Baltic fuscus), except when worn on upperparts, then brownish-tinged. Leggs on your gull looks yellowish, yellowish green on adult Kelp. Structurally it could be a LBBG (graellsii/intermedius), head looks stocky, especially in pic.2. Not a conclusive ID from these images for me Terry.

JanJ
 
JANJ said:
Hi Terry.
The Gull, LBBG or Kelp Gull? Broad white tertial and scapular crescents, and, although a difficult angle, primary projection seems short, favours Kelp over LBBG. Kelp Gull has black upperparts and black primaries with little contrast (like Baltic fuscus), except when worn on upperparts, then brownish-tinged. Leggs on your gull looks yellowish, yellowish green on adult Kelp. Structurally it could be a LBBG (graellsii/intermedius), head looks stocky, especially in pic.2. Not a conclusive ID from these images for me Terry.

JanJ
Click to expand...

I was afraid of that - these gulls really need to be in focus for the gull-savvy to make their IDs. I apologize again for the sloppy camera work. Thanks for trying!
 
hi terry,

do you remember how the shade of black/grey of the gull's back looked in the field? as jan said, kelp would look blackish, but the expected LBBG form graellsii rather greyish. structurally i favour graellsii (LBBG) over kelp but it's hard on this angle. also, if leg colour was bright yellow this favours LBBG.
 
Last edited:
lou salomon said:
hi terry,

do you remember how the shade of black/grey of the gull's back looked in the field? as jan said, kelp would look blackish, but the expected LBBG form graellsii rather greyish. structurally i favour graellsii (LBBG) over kelp but it's hard on this angle. also, if leg colour was bright yellow this favours LBBG.
Click to expand...

The main color was a dark/slate grey and the legs were yellow.
 
It's most likely a LBBG. They are fairly common in the Cape Hatteras area, and are generally the only gulls in the area that have the characteristics that this individual has.
 
LBBG might work - but I am simply too inexperienced with gulls to remember to check the color of the iris/orbital ring and the relative projection of the primaries.

THis was a lifer that got away I'm afraid!
 
JANJ said:
I think in April Gentoo.

http://web.ics.purdue.edu/~hopkinse/KELP-04-10-16-IDSP-IN.htm

JanJ
Click to expand...
I think I got the two threads confused. I've seen this bird in the link before, I'm still undecided as to what that is. If this photo was in April then LBBG is perhaps the best bet but the tertail crescent and especially the noticeable step and short primary projection still both me. Perhaps its a bulkier than normal LBBG, which do occur.
 
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