Re: [cobirds] Yellow-footed Gull-Not so much-Pueblo County

Todd, et al.,

From what I can tell looking through everyone's photos, including my own, we were all looking at the same bird and there was not at any point a YFGU at Pueblo Reservoir.  This includes Steve R's photos as well.  I included many of these checklists with photos in my email to Amar Ayyash and this is the bird he is calling a LBBG.  This bird is huge, no doubt, but there is a definite size overlap between these two species.  Here are Ayyash's size ranges for the main large gulls present at Pueblo Reservoir (Sibley's uses averages):

LBBG size range at 19"-24"

YFGU size range at 22"-26.5"

CAGU size range at 18"-23"

AHGU size range at 22"-27"

Some people have commented on the bird's size being excluded in the explanation.  If the CAGUs and AHGU were on the smaller size of their respective ranges, it is clear why this gull appeared so huge.  Initial feedback for the gull was promising for YFGU but as better pics came in, the ID was called into question.  

Bird is the word!

Josh Bruening

Fort Collins

Sent from my iPhone

On Jun 24, 2025, at 12:50 PM, Todd Deininger <goldeneagle90a@gmail.com> wrote:



Josh,

Are you saying that there is no YFGU in Pueblo and that it was a misidentified LBBG or that the bird it Steven's photos in not the YFGU and there is/was a YFGU in Pueblo?

Todd Deininger
Longmont, CO

Latest on Flickr

Follow me on inaturalist at toddwd1

youtube.com/@DeiningerProductions

"If every man would help his neighbor, no man would be without help"

-- Bruce Lee

On Tue, Jun 24, 2025 at 10:30 AM Josh Bruening <87211jjb@gmail.com> wrote:

All,

Gulls-1

Colorado birders-0

As usual, gulls are never straight forward...This is Amar Ayyash's response on the North American Gulls Facebook page:

Although there may be two (or three?) different birds causing some of the confusion here, I think the bird in question, Steven, is a LBBG. There were distant photos of this bird circulating 4-5 days ago that seemed to suggest Yellow-footed from a distance. The most confusing piece for me is the primary molt. Yellow-footed is the more likely to have replaced primaries (p1-p5) in a prealternate molt, but LBBG has been recorded doing this too. Overall, structurally, the bill and wing length are better for Lesser, as pointed out by James Pawlicki.

This opinion has been echoed by several other expert larophiles in recent days.  

Bird is the word!

Josh Bruening

Fort Collins

--
--
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Colorado Birds" group.
To post to this group, send email to cobirds@googlegroups.com
For more options, visit this group at
http://groups.google.com/group/cobirds
* All posts should be signed with the poster's full name and city. Include bird species and location in the subject line when appropriate.
* Join Colorado Field Ornithologists https://cobirds.org/membership/
---
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Colorado Birds" group.
To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to cobirds+unsubscribe@googlegroups.com.
To view this discussion visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/cobirds/b1f4884a-8bfb-4919-83a5-c5b9ec2ac49an%40googlegroups.com.