The Hybrid Gulls of Winter 2014-2015

With gull season slowly heating up, I've been impatient to get out and spend some quality time with some larids. Unfortunately school has kept me too busy to do much birding, but I have gotten around reviewing some of our gull photos from last winter.

I meant to post a summary of the gulls we saw last year, but seeing that didn't happen I guess I'll  whack out a quick post detailing the hybrid gulls we found.

I was watching gulls at the sandpit on January 22 when I saw this gull whip by. I looked up, thought "Oh, just another Thayer's" and shot a quick pic. Glancing at the back of the camera I thought it looked a little odd, but promptly forgot about it...

 Until, on the 20th of February Bryant and Andrew came upon this gull at the landfill. From their photos, I immediately recognized it as either the same bird I had seen or a nearly identical individual. With their much better photos it seems clear that this is a "Nelson's" Gull, a hybrid between Glaucous and Herring Gulls

Photo by Andrew

 The unique primary pattern, with P8-P10 "slatyish" nearly to the base but P7 mostly pale was the first thing I noticed. This is quite different from both Herring and Thayer's, but apparently standard for a 4th-cycle "Nelson's."

Photo by Andrew

 Note the short primary projection, large, blocky head, high eye-placement, and thick bill, all pointing to Glaucous influence

This great comparison shot shows the large size and paler mantle color of the hybrid well in comparison with Ring-billed and Herring.
Photo by Andrew

In retrospect it seems pretty obvious, and I'm surprised I didn't notice it in the field.

Andrew was gull-watching on the 3rd of February when he spotted this unusual gull. He sent to a few gull authorities who agreed that it was a "Cook Inlet" Gull, a Glaucous-winged X Herring Gull hybrid.

Andrew also found this gull which didn't seem to tick all the boxes for any particular species. Our best guess is that this is another "Cook Inlet" Gull. This hybrid, originating in the Cook Inlet area of Alaska, has rarely been sighted east of the Rockies, and this seems to the first record of this hybid in Kansas.

Anyway, hopefully we will get some good northern gulls here soon. So far this winter we have only found a few Thayer's and Lesser Black-backed.

Joseph

Landfill Report: February 20

We (Bryant and I) went to the landfill yesterday and had a pretty good day. When we got there all the gulls were sitting a couple hundred yards away and were positioned straight into the sun. We were contemplating how long we should stay, when they started coming in towards the trash pile to eat. Soon we had a nice gathering of them in close, although the lighting was still poor.  There was eventually enough cloud cover that we could pick out a nice variety of gulls including the following: 15 Thayer's Gulls,  5 Lesser Black-backed Gulls,  2 Iceland (Kumlien's) Gulls, and 2 intermediate Thayer's/Kumlien's. We also had a possible Nelson's Gull (Herring x Glaucous). Thoughts on this bird?

Possible Nelson's Gull:  Photo by Andrew

Possible Nelson's Gull:  Photo by Bryant

1st cycle Kumlien's Gull:  Photo by Andrew

1st cycle Kumlien's Gull:  Photo by Andrew

Adult Thayer's Gull:  Photo by Andrew

  Andrew

Cook Inlet Gull

On Tuesday the 3rd of February, I went to a local sandpit to watch gulls for a couple of hours.  Aside from the usual Herring and Ring-billed, I had one adult Lesser Black-backed and at least six Thayer's.  Towards the end of my stay I had a interesting second cycle Gull come by.  I first thought it was a Nelson's Gull (Herring x Glaucous), but was not at all sure so I sent it to the ebird reviewer for our area, Jon King.  He then sent it to Chris Wood and Marshall Iliff who both agreed it was a Cook Inlet Gull, which is a Glaucous-winged x Herring Gull hybrid.  This is the first record for the state, but is probably largely overlooked due to the problems in identifying them.

Cook Inlet Gull

Andrew