Everyone, On Friday, at about 5:00 p.m., an adult black-backed gull sitting on the rocks at Wheatley Harbour caught my attention. It essentially looked like a Great Black-backed Gull except (1) it was smallish (the size of an average Herring Gull); and (2) the legs were a dull yellowish-green. Kelp Gull crossed my mind, but for some reason I thought leg colour normally had a more bluish cast. However, this is not the case per various books and online photos, etc.
I took numerous photos and sent them to Kevin McLaughlin for comment. I jokingly suggested Kelp Gull, but he said there was nothing inconsistent for that species. However, he said photos of the spread wing were desperately needed. I went back to Wheatley Harbour twice on Saturday, but could not find the bird (it was quite windy). Today (Sunday) I went again around 4:30 p.m. or so, and immediately found the bird sitting on the same rocks as Friday. I spent a good time with the bird, taking tons of photos including those showing the spread wings both above and below. The bird sits on the outer breakwall at Wheatley Harbour, at the left end close to the water line. Walk out onto the pier for proper viewing. Be aware that there are various black-backed gulls also present, including Great Black-backed Gull and a nice adult Lesser Black-backed Gull. The bird appears to be the widespread subspecies occurring in South America (nominate dominicanus), rather than the one in the Antarctic (austrinus). The Wheatley bird has only a small white mirror in P10 (larger and oval or elongated in austrinus), and mantle colour is very black (dark gray mantle with darkening wingtips in austrinus). With this message I will let Kevin post a technical analysis of the bird, if he so wishes. Tonight he spent some time analyzing all of my photos. I only find rare gulls, I don't like describing them! I have many good photos of the bird and I would like to post a few to the OFO website, but there seems to be a policy where no more than a single photo can be posted by one person for one particular bird. However, I do not want to post just a single photo, as it would not tell the whole story. Frank?? Sandra?? Alan Wormington, Leamington ____________________________________________________________ Woman is 53 But Looks 25 Mom reveals 1 simple wrinkle trick that has angered doctors... http://thirdpartyoffers.juno.com/TGL3141/504d554499cde55447e55st01duc _______________________________________________ ONTBIRDS is presented by the Ontario Field Ornithologists - the provincial birding organization. Send bird reports to [email protected] For information about ONTBIRDS visit http://www.ofo.ca/
