Re: [cobirds] glaucous-winged gull at Teller 5, Boulder

Assuming it is the same bird, I can't help but wonder if the bird shown in the photos here isn't a Glaucous-winged X Glaucous hybrid? 

   http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist?subID=S12716613

Overall it looks pretty pale, has some pink showing through on the basal 2/3 of the bill, and has fairly well marked upper parts, i.e., the mantle and upperwing feathers look like they're showing a lot of pale with darker internal markings, very reminiscent of Glaucous Gull. 

Thoughts?

Paul Hurtado
Columbus, OH (& Pueblo, CO)

On Thu, Jan 24, 2013 at 5:53 PM, William H Kaempfer <William.Kaempfer@colorado.edu> wrote:

John Vanderpoel and I observed a first cycle Glaucous-winged Gull this morning at Teller Lake #5 in Boulder (off Valmont near 95^th St.) 

 

Teller 5 is excellent for gulls right now and worth a visit (even if that %@#$ Golden-crowned Sparrow can't be found).  The lake dried out this past fall leaving a harvest of dead fish, mainly huge catfish, I think, in the frozen mud toward the east end of the reservoir.  This attracts a group of about 100 gulls during the day. There are two noteworthy things about this collection of gulls.  First since they are feeding on dead fish the flock is mainly large, pink-legged gulls.  I would say that only 25% are Ring-billed Gulls which is unheard of in Colorado for a group of 100+ gulls.  Second, because they are feeding, one can get quite close to them (within 100 yards) and have excellent views.  This group has had multiple Thayer's plus Lesser Black-backed, Great Black-backed and now Glaucous-winged in the past week.  Interestingly, all of these good birds have been first (or second) cycle.

 

Here is my (probably lame) description of the Glaucous-winged from eBird: Large first cycle gull. Overall larger than nearby 1st cycle Thayer's. Uniform pale tan overall with wingtips not differentiated from overall color of the bird. Large all black bill.

 

Bill Kaempfer

Boulder

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Paul J. Hurtado
Postdoctoral Fellow, The Ohio State University
Mathematical Biosciences Institute, http://mbi.osu.edu/
Aquatic Ecology Laboratory, http://ael.osu.edu/

E-mail: hurtado.10@mbi.osu.edu
Webpage: http://people.mbi.ohio-state.edu/hurtado.10

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