A Few Birds from Los Cabos, BCS, Mexico (1 Viewer)

[Raegan]

I just arrived back home from a trip to Los Cabos and I have a few pictures of birds I wasn't able to identify (mostly gulls). All of the pictures were taken at the San Jose Estuary on January 2. I believe I've correctly identified some of them as Bonaparte's Gulls but I'm not sure about the other ones. For the bird perched on the fence, Merlin tells me it's a Palm Warbler but I'm quite skeptical considering their range. If you have the time, a brief description of how you identified some of them would be very helpful. Thanks!

 

[Butty]

What's BCS?
1. Looks ok for palm warbler. Yellow undertail-coverts, big supercilium, and they're common.
4-6. Laughing gulls and (I guess) Bonaparte's gulls and a strange black thing.

 

[Raegan]

What's BCS?
1. Looks ok for palm warbler. Yellow undertail-coverts, big supercilium, and they're common.
4-6. Laughing gulls and (I guess) Bonaparte's gulls and a strange black thing.

Thanks so much! BCS stands for Baja California Sur (the peninsula on the western side of Mexico). I think the map I was looking at wasn't quite accurate for the range of the palm warbler.

 

[lou salomon]

gull 1 (pic 2) is a first cycle Yellow-footed Gull.

 

[smiths]

gull 1 (pic 2) is a first cycle Yellow-footed Gull.

I very much doubt it.
By January, 1st-cycle Yellow-footed Gull is a rather neat looking bird with clean grey 'saddle', simple pattern on the wing coverts, and clean white undertail coverts.
In this bird, there are some new median coverts with strong barring that look decidedly odd for this species, and there are bold, triangular dark marks on the longer undertail coverts, to an extent that simply looks wrong for Yellow-footed.
The overall drab grey and brown aspect of this bird, as well as the dark bill with just a sliver of pink on the lower mandible also point to this being a Western Gull, not Yellow-footed.
Note that Yellow-footed is actually quite scarce at the Estero San José and at Los Cabos in general.
I did not see a single one there on the several days that I visited the area (in March 2016), while Western Gulls were present on every beach.
You get them mainly from Cabo Pulmo to the north.

 

[Raegan]

Thanks for your help! Also, an update on the palm warbler: I added it to the checklist I made that day and submitted the sighting with the picture. It was marked as a rarity but I received an email that told me it was reviewed and accepted! Thanks so much for help with the identification.

 

[smiths]

Strange; I also had a Palm Warbler there (https://ebird.org/checklist/S28634078) but it was never flagged as a rarity.

 

[connorco]

Strange; I also had a Palm Warbler there (https://ebird.org/checklist/S28634078) but it was never flagged as a rarity.

I would assume they're somewhat common down there. Palm Warblers are one of the most common eastern warblers in Northern California and a few always spend the winter up here. I assume most keep heading south till they hit the end of the Baja peninsula where there is pretty good habitat.