Nother Gull Seattle Washington USA (1 Viewer)

Photgog

Rufous-Female

• Oct 3, 2009

• #1

Just north of Seattle on 8/30/09.

This is such a marginal photo... I only have 212 pixels over the photo, resized because I can't see such a small picture.

The apparent black on the head, if it is not a shadow, makes me think Tern... the bill seems like a Gull... wings appear dark. Ideas???

Fraser

 

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htcdude

Well-known member

• Oct 3, 2009

• #2

Royal Tern?

Dunno looks like a Gull .... I'm confused

 

james holdsworth

Consulting Biologist

• Oct 3, 2009

• #3

Looks like Glaucuos-winged, with shadow or smudge on the head.

Bill is too long, yellow and heavy to be any Tern, apart from Large-billed, which it isn't.

 

ANdy5551

Urbicafan

• Oct 3, 2009

• #4

first glance reminds me of an auk of some description... weird

 

Gentoo

Guest

• Oct 3, 2009

• #5

Glaucous-Winged Gull

 

KFC

Ken Tucker

• Oct 3, 2009

• #6

Almost looks like black-crowned night heron.

Ken

 

Photgog

Rufous-Female

• Oct 3, 2009

• #7

KFC said:

Almost looks like black-crowned night heron.

Ken

Click to expand...

That is interesting... are those legs trailing out the back???

Fraser

 

MLoyko

d[-_-]b

• Oct 3, 2009

• #8

MY first impression my Black-crowned Night Heron too.

 

petemorris

Well-known member

• Oct 3, 2009

• #9

Clearly a gull, probably Glaucous-winged, but one has to ask the question - is it really worth starting a thread with such a poor and effectively unidentifiable picture of what is most likely a common bird there? Sorry... :-C

 

Photgog

Rufous-Female

• Oct 3, 2009

• #10

petemorris said:

Clearly a gull, probably Glaucous-winged, but one has to ask the question - is it really worth starting a thread with such a poor and effectively unidentifiable picture of what is most likely a common bird there? Sorry... :-C

Click to expand...

You are correct... the photo is marginal, however there are better birders on this forum than am I... the ability to identify may or not be there, certainly I cannot... but that does not mean that someone else might not ID the bird.

Fraser

 

petemorris

Well-known member

• Oct 3, 2009

• #11

Didn't mean to be rude Fraser, but what is visible on the photo is not enough to be 100% sure, whatever your level of expertise. There is no way a hybrid could be eliminated for example. If it was a record shot of something that was suspected to be a rare vagrant, that's a different matter...B

 

lmans66

Out Birding....

Supporter

• Oct 3, 2009

• #12

If not for the yellow beak...I would almost say a blackcrowned heron too....the body shape in flight looks like it and it doesn't have any more similarities to it than the Glaucousgull.

Oh...Fraser....many images are poor, but doesnt that make for the fun of it and besides, t times we grab any shot we can, can't wait for a perfect shot.... Don't understand you, no offense...

 

Photgog

Rufous-Female

• Oct 4, 2009

• #13

Hey... I'm not too thin skinned... hard headed sometimes... but that is just me.

This is a bad bird shot, but allow me to give you some perspective. I post the full frame shot from which I extracted the bird. This is a 600 mm equivalent lens... hand held. Actually at 200 mm with 2x doubler... to 400... and the APS sensor in the Nikon D2x gives another boost to 600 mm. Remember... Hand held.

The bird is about 150 yards away. (I'm not trying to take a National Geographic Shot here).

So in some respects the shot is not so bad.

And I will try to post better shots, of course, but I will post marginal ones sometimes as well.... and yes, sometimes that is part of the fun of it.

I saw the black on the head and thought it might be a new bird for me... and posted it.

Thanks for looking.

Fraser

 

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Gavin Bieber

Well-known member

• Oct 4, 2009

• #14

Looks like another Glaucous-winged Type Gull. Most of the large gulls in the Puget Sound are this species or are hybrids of Glaucous-winged and Western - dubbed the Olympic Gull by some. Look to the primary coloration (concolorus with mantle on GWGU, black on WEGU and intermediate for hybrids), head (smudgy on adult winter GW Gulls, white on adult winter Westerns) and bill shape (slighly more bulbous for WEGU) to sort them out. Don't be suprised though to find a lot of intermediate individuals. It is a great project for a cold winters day....