Most people take winter pelagics off Cape Hatteras for the alcids or a chance at Great Skua, but Brian Patteson's winter trips also happen to be an excellent opportunity for studying gulls.
Chum reliably summons a flock of a few hundred that parade along behind the Stormy Petrel II like the tail of a comet. Unlike most gull-watching which involves staring at loafing flocks on the beach, gulls behind the boat come in to point blank range with wings spread for easy viewing.
Some unusual gulls turned up on last Sunday's pelagic trip, which makes a great opportunity for a good old fashioned bird quiz!
Ready, Go!
Bird #1
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| practice bird |
Just kidding! That was a warm-up bird to get you used to the mediocrity of the photos, and for the uninitiated, to introduce the default species seen here, the Herring Gull.
Here's the real bird #1
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| bird #1 |
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| bird #1 |
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| bird #1 |
Bird #2
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| bird #2 |
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| bird #2 |
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| bird #2 (right) |
Bird #3
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| bird #3 |
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| bird #3 |
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| bird #3 |
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| bird #3 |
Bird #4
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| bird #4 (left) |
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| bird #4 |
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| bird #4 |
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| bird #4 |
That's it!
Leave your answers in the comments below, or if you're shy, email them to me directly: scott dot winton at gmail dot com
Wild guesses are totally fine, but it would be great to hear the rationale for your answers.
First person to get them all correct wins a free Brown Boobies t-shirt!
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ReplyDeleteyep! A box of them in various sizes.
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Delete#1 CAGU (ad.)
ReplyDelete#2 KUGU (2nd/3rd cycle)
#3 HERG (3rd cycle)
#4 THGU (ad.)
Thanks for this Amar. I think we'll use your answers as the key!! Several people argued that #2 should be some kind of HerringxGlaucous backcross based on the extensive dark in the upperwing and in the tail, but I don't think that's a problem for a 2nd/3rd year kumliens.
DeleteHi from Lynn Erla Beegle. Gulls are not my specialty, but I think:
ReplyDelete#1 is a California Gull due to the dark eye (not Thayers because it has large black and white areas on the wingtips)
#2 is Iceland Gull. Very light, a touch of darkness near the wingtips, delicate build (compared to Glaucous)
#3 I hope that's a plain old Ring-Billed Gull.
#4 is a Thayer's Gull (dark eye and small black area with large white cells ath the wingtips)
I did NOT read any of the other comments. Yet
Thanks for a nice gull quiz!
Great job Lynn! You got all the rare birds right, it was the common species that tripped you up. #3 is a "plain old" Herring Gull. It isn't a full adult though so it has the confusing ring on the bill. The pinkish legs are one easy field mark for Herring over Ring-billed (which has yellow legs).
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