[obol] A new pair of uglies and thoughts on the last one

[Mike Patterson]

The last episode of Ugly Gull Page, I posted a pale-eyed 3rd
cycle Western Gull and tried to get at the question "why isn't
this a Slaty-backed?"

Yes, I knew it was a 3rd cycle Western Gull, but I was having 
difficulty figuring out how to get that across to folks who 
have better things to do than spend 20 years sorting through
gulls building up a recognition set in their heads.

I AM NOT COMPLAINING, but the comments I received all agreed it
was a Western and either gave reasons that only someone with a
pre-existing recognition set would get or had no real reasons-
they just knew it was a Western.

I have pondered my travails at:
http://www.surfbirds.com/blogs/mbalame/archives/2008/03/uggu20080302.html

And I have posted side by side comparisons of two new gulls at:
http://home.pacifier.com/~mpatters/bird/uggu/ugly_gull.html

I'm pretty sure I know what one of them is and thought I knew what
the other was until I gave it a harder look.  Now, I genuinely
don't know.  See what you think....

-- 
Mike Patterson               
Astoria, OR                    
celata at pacifier.com  
 
Dr Strange-gull
http://www.surfbirds.com/blogs/mbalame/archives/2008/03/uggu20080302.html