[obol] FW: possible gull of interest at Cannon Beach

[DAVID IRONS]

Greetings All,

A visiting Washington birder sent me this note earlier today.  I have been 
working and just now came across it in my inbox.  The description sounds 
interesting.  Hopefully, someone will have the opportunity to look for this 
gull in the next day or so.

Dave Irons


>From: "Paul Hicks" <phicks at accessgrace.org>
>To: <llsdirons at msn.com>
>CC: "Mlodinow, Steven" <SGMlod at aol.com>
>Subject: possible gull of interest at Cannon Beach
>Date: Wed, 4 Apr 2007 12:02:37 -0700
>
>David,
>Monday I was visiting Cannon Beach (from Washington) and saw a "different" 
>dark-mantled gull. The location was a gull gathering spot in front of a 
>large beachfront hotel/resort where apparently they expect to be fed. It's 
>1/3 to 1/2 way between Haystack and the other group of rocks to the south. 
>A creek/drainage runs there. The gull looked very much like a Western with 
>the most notable differences being a darker mantle and smaller white spots 
>on the folded wingtips. (No, I didn't count how many were visible.) The 
>mantle shade was both darker and "blacker" (that is, noticeably less 
>blue-ish in cast, and more slatey-black-ish I suppose would be the best 
>description). The darkness was roughly midway between the darkness of the 
>other Westerns and the darkness of the folded wingtips, or maybe slightly 
>darker than midway. The other mantle difference was texture: considerably 
>rougher looking, different from the texture of the smooth, neat/clean 
>mantles of the Westerns. As to some of the finer points, the bird looked 
>consistent with the variation range present. It was slightly smaller than 
>most Westerns, but no more than some of the smaller Westerns present. The 
>eye color (not dark) and orbital ring may not have been identical to most 
>Westerns, but seemed consistent with the variations--though I didn't get a 
>super-specific observation of this. The bill color had the orangy shade 
>like Westerns, and there was no streaking in the head/neck or around the 
>eye. The bill spot seemed smaller than most, but not smaller than other 
>variations. The leg color was consistent I think, but I didn't make any 
>specific note one way or other. I really didn't get a good look in flight 
>to see what the wingtip pattern might be. The variations noted may be due 
>to differences between full breeding plumage or not, I suppose. I'm 
>definitely no gull expert. Overall the features seem to point to a 
>southern-type Western, but Slatey-backed comes to mind also. Anyway, 
>thought someone in the area might want to check it out "just in case."
>Regards,
>Paul Hicks
>

_________________________________________________________________
Download Messenger. Join the i’m Initiative. Help make a difference today. 
http://im.live.com/messenger/im/home/?source=TAGHM_APR07