I have been trying to convince myself of that since I first saw the bird. Third cycle Thayer's makes sense. Check out P9 though. Solid black. Ths is typically a Herring Gull trait. Also, the mirror on P10 seems way too small for a Thayer's Gull. So, yeah. I'm stumped. I want to call it a Thayer's, but....
According to the "experts", these two species never hybridise. Knowing gulls, I find this hard to believe. It may be extremely rare, but gulls being gulls, I'm not sure I would ever say "NEVER".
I have also seen some birds over the year which make me wonder.
One person suggested that this particular bird may be a Herring Gull with some Glaucous-winged Gull genes from several generations back. That should always be a consideration when dealing with oddball Herring Gulls. This bird seems oddly "dainty" to have GWGU genes though, at least to my eyes.
8 comments:
Oh, come on! Somebody give it a try! ;-)
3rd-cycle Thayer's Gull is the best I can do... don't have much experience with that age-group. Intriguing bird for sure!
I have been trying to convince myself of that since I first saw the bird. Third cycle Thayer's makes sense. Check out P9 though. Solid black. Ths is typically a Herring Gull trait. Also, the mirror on P10 seems way too small for a Thayer's Gull. So, yeah. I'm stumped. I want to call it a Thayer's, but....
Yeah I see what ya mean... I think you've got a decent case there.
Common Erectus Conky Gull
How you get so smaaaaaaat?
Herring X Thayers?
According to the "experts", these two species never hybridise. Knowing gulls, I find this hard to believe. It may be extremely rare, but gulls being gulls, I'm not sure I would ever say "NEVER".
I have also seen some birds over the year which make me wonder.
One person suggested that this particular bird may be a Herring Gull with some Glaucous-winged Gull genes from several generations back. That should always be a consideration when dealing with oddball Herring Gulls. This bird seems oddly "dainty" to have GWGU genes though, at least to my eyes.
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