[obol] Was This an "Odd" Mew Gull?

[Cindy Ashy]

There were about 450 gulls at the mouth of the Yachats
River late afternoon, numerous California Gulls of
various ages and Western/Glaucous-winged/hybrids (no
darker backed ones like I was hoping for) of various
ages, 16 Heermann's Gulls, and one little gull that so
captured my attention I followed it around for a long
time getting nice close detailed looks. There weren't
any others in the entire flock like this one.

I think this little gull was a Mew Gull but it had a
very noticeably pale iris which puzzled me...I'm used
to seeing Mew Gulls with very dark eyes (iris as dark
as the pupil)...this little guy's iris was almost as
pale as Ring-billed Gulls I've seen with just a few
dark pigment flecks but definitely pale overall. Its
beak and legs were bright yellow (no greenish tinge -
yellow yellow). The beak was one solid color without
even a hint of a dark/black spot/smuge/ring. It was
thin and delicate like a Mew Gull's bill. The mantle
was about the shade of the surrounding adult
California Gulls, a little lighter than the Western
Gulls (the unstreaked phenotypically non-hybrid
variety). The head, neck, and upper chest were heavily
streaked. The body shape and movement seemed Mew Gull
like to me. The orbital ring was so dark it looked
almost black in most lighting conditions but at one
point when I got very close and had good light I could
see a hint of red. The "white crescents" were
noticeable but not as wide as shown at the bottom of
page 212 of the Sibley Guide. 

All of this brings me to 3 questions:

Was this an "odd" Mew Gull? i.e. do Oregon Coast Mew
Gulls sometimes have pale irises?

Could this be a "Kamchatka" Mew Gull from Eastern Asia
(I read about these online - and they're mentioned in
Sibley but not shown - slightly larger, mantle a
little darker, and pale iris - but thicker beak like
on a Ring-billed Gull which is definitely not like
this gull as the beak was thin and delicate...but on
the other hand it did seem long for a Mew Gull which I
read is true for the "Kamchatka" variety)?

Do "Kamchatka" Mew Gulls ever show up on the Oregon
Coast (I read the European variety shows up on the US
East Coast)?

Cindy Ashy



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