[obol] Glaucous Gull Increases at Newport South Jetty

[Cindy Ashy]

There was a very interesting collection of gulls at the Newport South Jetty
this afternoon....with enough variety you could have studied them for
hours...the most interesting thing that jumped out at me was the "overnight"
increase in Glaucous Gulls. There are now 2 of the lighter "perfect" first
winter Glaucous Gulls plus at least 5 darker forms (3 first year, one that may
be a second year, one that is almost definitely a second year) plus a couple I
thought might be hybrids (but we need an expert laridologist for that) and an
ADULT! I got a good look at the adult both standing and flying....very large
(large enough that I'm guessing male)....definitely right size class...pure
white wing tips, very noticeable pure white leading edge on wings, even more
noticeable pure white trailing edge on wings, pure white underwing, pure white
tail, very pale mantle and scapulars. It was a beautiful gull and a joy to
find. I hope someone more learned than me on gulls checks these out soon and
reports to OBOL.

I was at Hatfield today and checked out some heavy gull books. If the quality
of information in them is proportional to the weight of the books, I should be
a gull expert soon (NOT) :-) I've been asking about the iris color on a second
winter Glaucous Gull and how to tell the difference between the first and
second years: