[obol] Sm. GLAUCOUS-type gull that made me freeze: Hammond, Clatsop County, Oregon on February 01, 2007

[David Bailey]

Obol,

If anyone is going to be around Hammond or the other gull areas of the 
N. Coast this weekend (e.g. Youngs Bay, Wireless Rd., Necanicum Estuary) 
keep an eye out for a small white-winged gull that may be just a 
GLAUCOUS, but could be something smaller and tastier, ahem, I mean much 
less expected--not to be icy, I mean dicey about all this.  See my 
Birdnotes.net report below for details on this bird I saw Thursday at 
Hammond Boat Basin.



This report was mailed for David C. Bailey by http://birdnotes.net

Date: February 1, 2007
Location: Hammond, Clatsop County, Oregon

Percentage of sky covered by clouds: 0%
Precipitation: none

I birded the boat basin and viewpoint. Many scoters and Western
Grebes were working the channel--Steve Warner says the smelt are
staging currently in the estuary and they are attracting the
piscivore.

I found a small and odd-looking immature white winged gull that I am
uncertain of identifying as a Glaucous. Could it have been an Iceland
or Kumlien's Gull? Probably not, but it   would be very interesting
to get some more looks at it and even some pictures.

Birds seen (in taxonomic order):

Mallard (Anas platyrhynchos)                           20
Surf Scoter (Melanitta perspicillata) [1] 
Bufflehead (Bucephala albeola)                         20
Common Goldeneye (Bucephala clangula)                   1
Hooded Merganser (Lophodytes cucullatus)                1
Common Merganser (Mergus merganser)                     1
Western Grebe (Aechmophorus occidentalis) [2] 
Great Blue Heron (Ardea herodias)                       1
Northern Harrier (Circus cyaneus)                       1 [3] 
SEMIPALMATED PLOVER (Charadrius semipalmatus)           5 [4] 
Killdeer (Charadrius vociferus)                         7
SPOTTED SANDPIPER (Actitis macularia)                   1 [5] 
Mew Gull (Larus canus)                                 70
Western Gull (Larus occidentalis)
Glaucous-winged Gull (Larus glaucescens)
GLAUCOUS GULL??? (Larus hyperboreus)                       1 [6] 
Glaucous-winged x Western Gull (Larus glaucescens x occidentalis)
Unidentified gull (Larus sp.)                           1 [7] 

Footnotes:

[1]  Surf Scoter: hundreds flying up river along the channel while
     the Western Grebes were riding the current downstream.
[2]  Western Grebe: probably hundreds in the river channel.
[3]  Northern Harrier: female
[4]  Semipalmated Plover: I was lucky to get my binocular on this
     tight flock as it flew by the  viewpoint towards Youngs Bay.
     Before I saw them in my binocular, I took them for Sanderlings.
     Something unconscious told me to give them a closer look. 
[5]  Spotted Sandpiper: at inlet in boat basin below the restrooms.
[6]  GLAUCOUS GULL(?): If this species, it was the most round-headed,
     large-eyed, short-billed unapparent gonydial angled 1st (or 2nd)
     winter specimen of this species I have ever seen. This bird was
     smaller than nearby Western Gulls and the rounded head and
     relatively large appearing eye reminded me of  Thayer's and Mew
     Gull more Than the typical flat and block-headed Glaucous Gulls
     I am used to seeing. The lighting was good and at my back, but
     the bird was at the far north end of the boat basin and even
     with my scope zoomed to 40 I was not able to the most satisfying
     looks at all the finer details of its plumage. The undertail
     coverts were barred, but not darkly barred. The wingtips were
     white. There was a pale patterning to the upperparts, but no
     apparently darker secondary bar or terminal band to the tail.
     The bill was pink(?) or pale-based (perhaps with some gray or
     greenish mixed in). with dark black tip. The extreme tip may
     have had a very small touch of pale to it. The bird did not seem
     to be as gigantic compared to the many Mew Gulls it was swimming
     with than I would expect a Glaucous, Western, or Glaucous-winged
     Gull to be. The eye appeared dark, but I would not be certain
     that I could really see its true color due to the poor light
     gathering of my scope and my distance to the bird. The bird was
     first swimming below the north rock break and then later flew to
     perch on the top of the rocks. Later it flew off up river when a
     female Northern Harrier put all the birds up. It didn't look
     like it was headed far away, but I did not have additional time
     to relocate it. The primaries projected behind the tail some,
     but they did not look noticeably long, nor noticeably short
     (like typical Glaucous)--I would have liked to see this on the
     standing bird a some more. Could this have been an Iceland-type
     Gull? Could this have been the small Barovanious type Glaucous
     Gull described in Grant? Lets keep looking.
[7]  Unidentified gull: See note under "Glaucous Gull" This could be
     a member of the smaller white winged gull species and is worthy
     of follow-up observation if it stays near the boat basin at
     Hammond.

Total number of species seen: 18