Not my own observation but I thought this might be an interesting bird to have a look at.
attila21 at inaturalist posted this one photo of a beast of a large gull. Strong bill like Glaucous-winged Gull, off black primaries and a dark mantle.
I have not enough experience with GWG to say something about it but could it be just an overly darkly photographed Glaucous-winged Gull or could it - even more fun- be a hybrid of some sort.... Glaucous-winged x Slaty-backed Gull springs to mind as these are both regular in the area. It turns out it is hard to find more than probable shots of this hybrid.
I thought that maybe the distance between the levels of grey of mantle and primaries is similar to or equal to that in a well lit bird... (not sure...novice on pacific gulls)
Would be great to hear your thoughts on this,
cheers,
Gerben (this time on behalf of the JP birding community at inaturalist)
of course posted after asking permission to do so.
Slaty-backed × Glaucous-winged Gull (Hybrid Larus schistisagus × glaucescens)
Slaty-backed × Glaucous-winged Gull from Odaitominatocho, Betsukai, Notsuke District, Hokkaido 086-1643, Japán on January 12, 2016 at 01:47 AM by Attila Steiner
www.inaturalist.org
attila21 at inaturalist posted this one photo of a beast of a large gull. Strong bill like Glaucous-winged Gull, off black primaries and a dark mantle.
I have not enough experience with GWG to say something about it but could it be just an overly darkly photographed Glaucous-winged Gull or could it - even more fun- be a hybrid of some sort.... Glaucous-winged x Slaty-backed Gull springs to mind as these are both regular in the area. It turns out it is hard to find more than probable shots of this hybrid.
I thought that maybe the distance between the levels of grey of mantle and primaries is similar to or equal to that in a well lit bird... (not sure...novice on pacific gulls)
Would be great to hear your thoughts on this,
cheers,
Gerben (this time on behalf of the JP birding community at inaturalist)
of course posted after asking permission to do so.