Mystery Bird photographed at Tuttle Creek Reservoir outflow tubes on the Big Blue River 8 km (5 miles) north of Manhattan, Kansas (USA).
Image: Dave Rintoul, 7 January 2012 (with permission) [velociraptorize].
Canon EOS10D body, 100-400 mm f/5.6 Canon IS zoom lens
Since you seem to be enjoying yesterday's mystery bird, I thought I'd share this mystery bird with you. This very peculiar North American mystery bird, photographed in Kansas, has stumped the experts. The photographer writes:
This gull is slightly larger than a ring-billed gull, based on a direct size comparison with one of the many ring-billed gulls in the vicinity [see image overlay below]. It first attracted my attention due to its white-headed look. The second unusual aspect is the bill color, mostly gray-black but with some lighter horn-colored bits at the tip.
I had an image of a ring-billed gull taken at the same time from approximately the same distance as the [mystery bird image] above. So I overlaid these two gull images to show just how similar in size this gull is to a ring-billed gull. The angles are different, but I think that this confirms my impression at the time that this bird was only slightly larger than a ring-billed gull [...].
Image: Dave Rintoul, 7 January 2012 (with permission) [velociraptorize].
Canon EOS10D body, 100-400 mm f/5.6 Canon IS zoom lens
Can you identify this bird? Feel free to name the species but refer to the bird's field marks and cite the relevant reference works to make your argument.
You are invited to review all of the daily mystery birds by going to their dedicated graphic index page.
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Comments
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9 January 2012 5:15PM
This first-winter bird has variably grey-brown upperparts with pale mantle and pale band on greater coverts and bases of inner primaries; head and neck heavily spotted; tail has dark terminal band; legs pink.
9 January 2012 5:30PM
I can't tell one gull from another. It's a fair way from the coast in Kansas though - not that that stops them!
9 January 2012 6:05PM
I am likely wrong, but it looks like a juvenile Lesser black backed gull.
9 January 2012 7:50PM
If Dave is correct about the size of the bird, this is a real puzzle. My first thought was that this was obviously a Herring Gull (Larus argentatus/smithsonianus, depending upon your checklist preferences) -- the structure and plumage look good for a slow-molting 2nd year bird. The wings look too short, the greater coverts look too pale, and the bill looks all wrong for a 1st winter California, and the bill is too big for a Ring-billed or Mew (there's not enough gray on the mantle for either as well, and a Ring-billed would have white undersides with distinct dark scalloping as well). Lesser Black-backed doesn't work either, the wing coverts don't look dark enough, the bill color doesn't work, and the structure isn't right (the wings should be distinctly longer). The gray on the mantle is problematic as well -- a 2nd year bird should have more and darker gray, and a first year shouldn't have any.
I would say that either this bird is a runt American Herring Gull or it's only North American in the sense that it was photographed in Kansas.
9 January 2012 8:24PM
Perhaps the poor bird is saying "Toto, I don't think we're in Oz any more".
9 January 2012 10:30PM
Think intermediate between juvenile and 1st winter...
9 January 2012 10:45PM
California Gull? Pink feet, Herring Gull-like beak. Not so unusual at various western locations.
9 January 2012 11:00PM
Larus damfino
9 January 2012 11:03PM
Sorry, Larus damfino X californica
10 January 2012 12:25AM
TwitchEd -- the photo was taken in January -- this would be a very late molt for a California, and the dark belly doesn't fit a juve or a 1st winter. Neither does the white head -- a 1st winter bird should still have dark spotting on the nape and around the eye. It appears the outer rectrix is barred -- which doesn't fit CAGU at that age either.
NMbirder -- how often does this sort of bill show up in CAGU by January? All of the texts I've checked suggest that they should show a pale base by October. It would be nice to know if there's a level of variation that the books are missing.
10 January 2012 4:16AM
It was a best guess based on some field marks and overall shape. There is an inland variant. Also, we just had some major storms come up from Baja that swept east and our southwest climate is just way off the mark these past years so who knows how much delay or accleration in gull patterns could be found?. What the heck! This is entertainment for me as I am laid up with a full leg cast after surgery. Cheers.