Hello, Birders, and Seasons Greetings.
Firstly, I just wanted to let folks know that there's been a very nice,
"typical" first-cycle Thayer's Gull visiting Waneka Lake, Boulder County, for a
little while now. The bird comes in with the flock of ~1,000 gulls (almost
entirely Ring-bills) by around 8:00 a.m. The birds usually hang around for 3-4
hours, then disappear--probably for fast food somewhere in Broomfield County.
(Boulder County is zoned against fast food.) I suppose Thayer's Gulls aren't
terribly exciting anymore in Colorado, but this particular individual is
confiding and cooperative. You can ID it just with your bins, and, with a
scope, the view is great.
Yesterday afternoon, Christmas Day, Sunday, Dec. 25th, Hannah and I visited the
Valmont Reservoir complex. (Hannah lugged three large brand-new dolls all the
way up the hill and back. Go figure.) Anyhow, there's a nice "ice shelf" now on
Valmont Rez proper, which means lots of gulls, and relatively close-in, to
boot. We saw 101 LWHGs ("large white-headed gulls"), of which 95 appeared to be
straightforward Herring Gulls, 1 of which appeared to be a typical first-cycle
Thayer's Gull (but NOT the bird that's coming to Waneka), and 5 of which were
either aberrant Herring Gulls or Herring Gulls with a bit of something else. I
believe that such birds should be rendered on eBird checklists has "gull, sp.",
not as our best guess as to what possible hybrid combination might be
represented.
In this regard, have y'all been following the saga of the remarkable
Selasphorus hummingbird in Illinois? It just serves to reinforce the basic
lesson that we humans aren't very good at guessing the true identities of
"hard" birds. The problem is especially acute for those who are confident in
their ability to do so. See:
http://www.sibleyguides.com/2011/10/overconfidence/
Ted Floyd
[email protected]
Lafayette, Boulder County, Colorado
P.s. Also a single adult California Gull at Valmont, and several thousand
Ring-billed Gulls.
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