Molly Hoffman just called this morning and reported that around 9 am she and Ken relocated the gull they found and identified yesterday as an adult Slaty-backed Gull in Grand Marais. It was standing with other gulls on the east breakwater at the mouth of the harbor. (Early yesterday evening it had been present along the gravel beach on the East Bay side of town, near the Shoreline Motel.)
Molly said photos were taken by another observer yesterday but was uncertain at this time of what details they might show. She also said she and Ken had considered the possibility of Western Gull yesterday, but they felt the amount of white visible in the outer primaries was too large for this gull to be a Western. Molly repeated that the legs were darker pink than on a Herring Gull, which would also fit a Slaty-backed, and such leg color along with the gull's overall size (about the same as a Herring Gull) would preclude Great Black-backed Gull. Kim Eckert
