Left La Veta behind this morning...headed to Montana to visit with our oldest daughter...but could not resist the temptation for a "quick" stop at Lathrop State Park. I say "quick" as we ended up staying for over an hour trying to get the best vantage point for an odd looking juvenile gull...that kept swimming directly away from us. Had a very streaked backside and seemed to set in the water with it's back slightly higher than it's head. Brownish overall with dark brown primaries which appeared to be edged a little paler. It was larger than the Ring-billed Gulls that were swimming by and in front of it. When the bird would turn briefly to the side we noticed all dark bill, slighly paler behind the bill and distinct marking on back and flanks. This set us scrambling for the Sibley's.
While one of us kept the bird in the scope the other took turns flipping through Sibley's to eliminate suspects. Too dark for Glaucous, much more distinctly marked on back and sides lacked pink on the bill. Glaucous primaries would be white. Glaucous-winged would have primaries the same color as the body, lack that distinctive marking on back and flanks. Mew would probably appear to be the same size as the Ring-billeds lacks pale edging on primaries. Our conclusion was juvenile Thayer's Gull. New Huerfano County bird for us. Polly Wren and Paul Neldner La Veta, CO Sent from my iPhone -- 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 https://groups.google.com/groups/opt_out.
