Nov. 26, 4:30pm
Black Dog Lake (east lake viewed from power plant causeway)

I viewed this gull tonight for about 6-7 minutes. Here is an excerpt from my field notes:

"Adult Gull, approximately size of Herring Gull. Similar mantle color to HERG, perhaps a shade paler, but primaries distinctly gray with fairly sizeable white apical spots. White tertial crescents larger than adjacent HERGs. Gray on primaries perhaps one scale darker than mantle, but not even approaching black of nearby Herring Gulls. Head more rounded on average than nearby HEGUs. Bill yellow with red gonydeal spot. Bill size rather like Herring, ie. not particulary bulbous, but with slight gonydeal angle (female?). Head mostly white with small amount of duskiness. Both Howell and Dunn (2007) and Olsen and Larsson (2003) show some basic adult individuals with mostly white heads (not dusky as is most common) and rather slender bills.

Eye appeared quite dark, especially compared to adjacent HERGs which were easily seen to be pale. Nearby Thayer's Gull showed eye color similar to this bird. As I squeezed the shutter to take a digiscoped photo of the bird in profile, I got the dreaded message..."Battery exhausted"!"

There were only about 60 gulls present at the time, but many more arrived closer to 5:00pm, including an adult Lesser Black-backed Gull. No one else was present. 

Jim
Eagan