[obol] Glaucous Gull "invasion"

[Cindy Ashy]

This afternoon at the South Jetty, there were 3 Glaucous Gulls. If you look at
page 230 of the Sibley Guide, there are 2 illustrations of juvenile Glaucous
Gulls, one lighter and one a little darker. One of the gulls I saw resembled
more the lighter form and two of them were the darker form. I saw these gulls
several times and up close and in different lighting situations. I am very sure
the lighter one was a glaucous gull....and I'm almost certain the other two
were....BUT one of the darker ones had a light iris so I think it was a second
year Glaucous Gull...and the other darker one had an iris SLIGHTLY lighter than
its pupil when I got a look at it with the light shining right at it (the
lighter one had the darkest iris which was very dark)....I've looked through my
guides carefully at all the gulls with two-toned beaks and also the ones with
light eyes (at any stage) and can't find another one that has all the same
traits and light eyes and a two-toned beak...the tips of the wings were NOT
dark, the beak was extra long, and when I say "darker" I don't mean
dark....just darker relative to the other really light Glaucous Gull. However,
if anyone has other ideas, please let me know.

Cindy Ashy


 
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