Hello, Birders. The gull flock at Valmont Reservoir was immense late yesterday afternoon, Saturday, Jan. 15th. It was also, alas, quite distant. But one (somewhat) close (it's all relative--still hundreds of feet away) gull was intriguing. It was a large gull, just about the size of a Herring Gull. Viewed at various angles and under variable lighting conditions, it was consistently "medium-mantled"--darker than a California Gull (and, of course, darker than any Ring-billed Gull or "normal" Herring Gull) yet paler than a Lesser Black-backed Gull. So?...Vega Gull? All other plumage and bare-parts makes lined up with Vega Gull--which means they were all pretty much within the range of variation for the exceedingly variable "normal" (American/Smithsonian) Herring Gull.
Beats me. Whatever it was, it sure was interesting. Definitely one to keep an eye out for, these next few days, at northern Front Range ponds and lakes. (The Tundra Swan was present, of course, but I didn't see the recently reported Common Loon.) ------------------------------- Ted Floyd Editor, Birding Blog: http://tinyurl.com/2g2staq Twitter: http://tinyurl.com/2ejzlzv Facebook: http://tinyurl.com/2wkvwxs ------------------------------- -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Colorado Birds" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected]. For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/cobirds?hl=en.
