Having studied the Brooklyn Gray-hooded Gull at some length yesterday, my impression was of an adult in breeding plumage, with flight feathers no more worn than would be expected on a wild bird at the start of the pre-basic molt. The bird appeared to have commenced with such a molt, lacking its innermost primaries on each wing (PP1).
Molt timing may provide a clue regarding the bird's geographic origins. Howell and Dunn's Gulls of the Americas states that the prebasic molt occurs from July through January among birds from the Pacific coast of South America but from December through March for Atlantic South American birds. I don't have any information at hand about the timing of molt for African populations. Shai Mitra Bay Shore ________________________________ Change is in the Air - Smoking in Designated Areas Only in effect.<http://www.csi.cuny.edu/tobaccofree> Tobacco-Free Campus as of July 1, 2012. -- NYSbirds-L List Info: http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NYSbirdsWELCOME http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NYSbirdsRULES http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NYSbirdsSubscribeConfigurationLeave.htm ARCHIVES: 1) http://www.mail-archive.com/nysbirds-l@cornell.edu/maillist.html 2) http://www.surfbirds.com/birdingmail/Group/NYSBirds-L 3) http://birdingonthe.net/mailinglists/NYSB.html Please submit your observations to eBird: http://ebird.org/content/ebird/ --
