[Jane Turner]

Now we have established that he doesn't like Gulls :) No clues till tomorrow.

[CJW]

Yep. Definitely a gull. On a beach. With people.
Jeeb?

[Grousemore]

Shame it is "just for CJW" as I thought I knew the answer!

[jpoyner]

I'd say without further photos from another angle.....id not possible 100%, though location would help greatly.

JP

[Michael Frankis]

Well I'll take a stab at Lesser Black-back

Michael

[Colin]

Ah, I think I have got this one correct which will be a first. Judging by the angle that the bird is leaning, this is one of those plastic decoy nondescript birds and thus cannot be ascribed to a genus and/or species other than Larus plasticus. If I am wrong, then it is because my concentration was disturbed by the sight of that person in the background with hardly any clothes on. LOL

[Doug]

If you look closely you can see the reason he is leaning is because he is trying to balance a very small glass of water on his head.

[Bluetail]

Originally Posted by Michael Frankis

Well I'll take a stab at Lesser Black-back

Michael

With pink feet? Mind you, even the sand looks pink. I'd guess Larus argentatus vegae. Oh, bring back the days when we all knew what a Herring Gull looked like! (But I wouldn't be altogether surprised to learn that it's not a Herring Gull at all....)

Jason

[Michael Frankis]

Originally Posted by Bluetail

With pink feet?

Hmmmmm . . . . the legs are definitely bright yellow on my monitor! That's mainly why I went for LBB

Michael

[Bluetail]

A lot of the colours in the shot look a bit odd to me. I agree the bird's tarsi do look rather yellow, but the tibiae and the webs are definitely pink on my monitor. On the other hand, that mantle does look mighty dark, so I'm not saying you're wrong!

Jason

[Jane Turner]

The feet are flesh on the original, which was taken with an instamatic camera in one hand and a piece of bread in the other.

The bird wasn't leaning... I mistakenly cropped it using the sand as a guide. In fact that is sloping. The colours are strange, my scanner is missing so I photographed it in dodgy light. The mantle is pretty dark.

[Bluetail]

Come to think of it, that body looks mighty wide for any Herring Gull I've seen. I'm now thinking Great Black-backed, but if the photo wasn't taken in Britain then we're into species I've never seen. Fat, long bill with strong red tip on a rather thin head - Western Gull maybe??? I give up.

Jason

[CJW]

I'm sticking with my original guess.
Jeeb. (GBB)

[Jane Turner]

This morning's clue. The correct species has been mentioned and all the necessary ID features have been spotted.

[Grousemore]

Western Gull (Larus occidentalis),photo taken in California on a beach North of Monterey.

[Jane Turner]

It was south of Monterey actually, close the Mexican border at Tijuana. Well done!


They did look hefty (GBBG)-like to me.