PaulK Posted January 16 Share Posted January 16 Hi, today in Vancouver. This very far away bird stuck out from the Glaucous-winged drifting with the current as noticeably smaller, but when it flew away it looked bulkier than expected (especially in the head) and had a big translucent patch in the inner primaries on the underside of the wing. Is this indeed a short-billed or have I misidentified please? First photo is with Glaucous-winged for scale, second a little closer view, third gives bottom of wing, 4th top, 5th is where the bird was by way of explanation how bad the pictures are. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Avery Posted January 17 Share Posted January 17 Looks good for 1st winter Short-billed Gull. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DLecy Posted January 17 Share Posted January 17 1 hour ago, Avery said: Looks good for 1st winter Short-billed Gull. How are you ruling out a 1cy Ring-billed Gull from these photos alone? 6 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PaulK Posted January 17 Author Share Posted January 17 38 minutes ago, DLecy said: How are you ruling out a 1cy Ring-billed Gull from these photos alone? I've always thought ring-billed are blacker and mew are browner, and this just felt like a mew to me - looked cuter. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DLecy Posted January 17 Share Posted January 17 6 minutes ago, PaulK said: I've always thought ring-billed are blacker and mew are browner. Don't we all wish it was that simple. 2 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DLecy Posted January 17 Share Posted January 17 Here is a good one from today. Marin County, CA. Waaay better looks than your bird. What would people call it? and why?!!? 4 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PaulK Posted January 17 Author Share Posted January 17 I'd call that a short-billed. Following Sibley: uniformly brown and low-contrast, brown underneath, brownish flight feathers, short little bill. Ring-billed would be greyer with more contrast overall and especially in the coverts, with blacker flight feathers. Looked at a bunch of photos in Macaulay and that's what I see there too. Great example and I'm looking forward to finding out what I'm missing! 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PaulK Posted January 17 Author Share Posted January 17 (edited) Adding to that I think the contrast is probably more important than the colour: here's a short-billed of mine from a couple of months ago where the remiges look significantly darker. (But this is more guessing than experience or knowledge.) Edited January 17 by PaulK 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Avery Posted January 17 Share Posted January 17 14 hours ago, DLecy said: How are you ruling out a 1cy Ring-billed Gull from these photos alone? Compared to the Ringers I see, I would expect the wingtips to be much darker, the bill to look longer, and the mantle to have a bit more blue-gray. I should add I have zero experience with SBGU, and I am just going off field guides and my experience with other species. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Avery Posted January 17 Share Posted January 17 13 hours ago, DLecy said: Here is a good one from today. Marin County, CA. Waaay better looks than your bird. What would people call it? and why?!!? Here's my thoughts, I'd love to get feedback for my notes. 1. Certainly a Larus bird based on various factors and giss. 2. It's small, so that leaves three options: Short-billed, Cali, and Ringer 3. It's a 1st cycle by the dark tipped bill 4. Ringer can be ruled out by range and the lack of sharply contrasting dark spots on the coverts and flanks. Also, the wingtips would be darker. 5. Bill length cannot be determined safely due to angle. 6. I see browinish wingtips edged in pale, and a very pale body without any dark or brownish spots. Sibley says SBGU can become very light and worn. 7. Worn 1st Cycle SBGU is my guess. 5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PaulK Posted January 18 Author Share Posted January 18 (edited) 10 hours ago, Avery said: Ringer can be ruled out by range Nice analysis except for this quibble - perfectly fine through the winter down the west coast unless California is being weird again Edited January 18 by PaulK 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Connor Cochrane Posted January 18 Share Posted January 18 (edited) 2 minutes ago, PaulK said: Nice analysis except for this quibble - perfectly fine through the winter down the west coast unless California is being weird again Yeah, we do have Ring-billed costaly, though there aren't usually many of them on the immediate coast. Go even a mile inland they are one of the most common gulls. Edited January 18 by Connor Cochrane 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PaulK Posted January 18 Author Share Posted January 18 Hopped onto Instagram just now and this was the first thing I saw, ha 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DLecy Posted January 18 Share Posted January 18 23 hours ago, PaulK said: Adding to that I think the contrast is probably more important than the colour: here's a short-billed of mine from a couple of months ago where the remiges look significantly darker. (But this is more guessing than experience or knowledge.) This bird also has a pale greenish base to the bill, which RBGU almost never show. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IKLland Posted January 18 Share Posted January 18 10 hours ago, Connor Cochrane said: Yeah, we do have Ring-billed costaly, though there aren't usually many of them on the immediate coast. Go even a mile inland they are one of the most common gulls. They’re pretty common by the beach here, but still more common inland. I don’t know about up by you, but here the most common gull is WEGU, IMO. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Avery Posted January 18 Share Posted January 18 12 hours ago, PaulK said: Nice analysis except for this quibble - perfectly fine through the winter down the west coast unless California is being weird again Oh, I had no idea! My bad! 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PaulK Posted January 19 Author Share Posted January 19 (edited) On 1/16/2022 at 9:22 PM, DLecy said: Here is a good one from today. Marin County, CA. Waaay better looks than your bird. What would people call it? and why?!!? So @DLecyare we correct? (No rush) Edited January 19 by PaulK 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DLecy Posted January 19 Share Posted January 19 21 minutes ago, PaulK said: So @DLecyare we correct? (No rush) Yes! This is a Short-billed Gull. One thing that wasn’t mentioned is the fairly wide white edges to the tertials. I find this to be a pretty reliable field mark. Also, RBGUs at this and age and this time of year, tend to have much more worn tertials. The difference with regards to this mark between the two species is usually apparent, but like all things RBGU/SBGU, caution is warranted. This particular individual was right near three RBGUs, which provided ample study. I intentionally let them out of the pic. 2 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PaulK Posted January 19 Author Share Posted January 19 Thanks! That was a fun exercise. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DLecy Posted January 19 Share Posted January 19 Does anyone know the four letter banding code for Short-billed Gull? I just realized that SBGU conflicts with that of Slaty-backed Gull. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PaulK Posted January 19 Author Share Posted January 19 4 minutes ago, DLecy said: Does anyone know the four letter banding code for Short-billed Gull? I just realized that SBGU conflicts with that of Slaty-backed Gull. Just looked it up and they're using SBIG 5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Connor Cochrane Posted January 19 Share Posted January 19 1 minute ago, PaulK said: Just looked it up and they're using SBIG And Slaty-backed is now SBAG to avoid confusion. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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