Seaforth NR,
A possible second winter American herring gull was seen briefly today. It was vigourously bathing for about 5 minutes before flying off around midday. First seen by PK and seen by me and TC also. The Strikingly all dark tail and the remnants of a heavily barred rump was seen well. A large gull, longish bill, smoky underwing ,and the grey mantle colour being as pale or a shade paler than the close by argenteus herring gulls. I and some very expierienced gullers including gullers from America think this is a very good candidate for Smithsonianus.
Also today 3 adult med gulls and an adult yellow legged gull.
2 comments:
Hi Steve,
I was wondering whether or not (European) Herring Gull can be ruled out in this case? It is apparently not too unusual for 2nd-w HEGU to have a more or less all-dark tail, and, apart from that, there's not a whole lot going for this bird with regard to it being an American Herring Gull, to be honest. Structure etc all look within the range of variation of HEGU.
Harry
Thanks very much for your comments
Steve
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