Gulls in Skagit Wildlife Area, Washington State, USA (1 Viewer)

[ilikebirds-124]

I have some gull photos I can't ID (I'm not good with gulls). Can you help? Thanks in advance!
I guessed Glaucous-winged and Ring-billed, but I am not sure.

 

[DHayden]

The first gull is a Glaucous-winged x Western Gull hybrid (Olympic Gull)
The others looks like a Short-billed Gull.

 

[ilikebirds-124]

The first gull is a Glaucous-winged x Western Gull hybrid (Olympic Gull)
The others looks like a Short-billed Gull.

Amazing! I am hopeless with gulls, except the Heerman's! lol
Thanks!

 

[ilikebirds-124]

@DHayden, can I ask you to weigh in on these swans, too? Same location.
I thought Tundra.

 

[lou salomon]

in pics 1-2 of the swans, necks and bills look stretched/long enough to belong to Trumpeter Swans.

 

[Ruff-Leg]

Help me out here. That first picture looked fine for a pure GWGU. I turned to Ayyash's new Gull guide, especially pg 374, for a comparable picture. His photos of Olympic Gulls show darker wingtips and messier gonys spots.

My exposure to WEGUs is SoCal, and GWGU is from the Aleutians. I admit little experience with Olympics.

So, what makes this bird a hybrid?

 

[lou salomon]

Help me out here. That first picture looked fine for a pure GWGU. I turned to Ayyash's new Gull guide, especially pg 374, for a comparable picture. His photos of Olympic Gulls show darker wingtips and messier gonys spots.

My exposure to WEGUs is SoCal, and GWGU is from the Aleutians. I admit little experience with Olympics.

So, what makes this bird a hybrid?

There a bit of controversy about how much darker wingtip pattern in pure Glaucous-winged Gull is 'allowed' to be than mantle tone. Personally I think it can be slightly (but only very slightly) darker than mantle, other people sustain that the wingtip pattern should be the same grey tone as mantle if the bird is pure. Now, in Pudget Sound 99% of all these gulls are Olympic Gulls - including the one depicted above. That grey pattern is not only appreciably darker than mantle (dorsal part of the bird) but also more extended than in Glaucous-winged Gull. Note that grey tone of wingtip in Olympic Gull vaies from black to very pale grey. This one is on the pale side of the scale.

 

[DHayden]

The swans are Trumpeters, as Lou responded.
As for the gull, I agree with Lou again.

 

[ilikebirds-124]

@lou salomon , @DHayden
Thanks again! I had decided they were Tundras due to the long neck (and lack of trumpeting). But eBird says they are extremely similar, so I really didn't know how to distinguish. They are both found in this wildlife area.