The photos don't do it justice but the key points are: large size, uniform dark coloration, folded wingtips concolor with the rest of the bird. Possibilities:
Glaucous Gull - large size, concolor wingtips, but darkness of bird seems too much for the species. Patterning on bill seems wrong to me - black is smudgy and not boldly-defined. Nelson's Gull hybrid - not what I expect from Nelson's, but ? Other hybrids might be considered, mainly Glaucous-winged x Herring, GW x Western, or GW x Glaucous. Glaucous-winged seemed a good fit actually, but should have an all-black bill. Glaucous-winged x Herring also seems possible. In some of the photos the folded wing-tips are edge-on and look darker than in real life. It is a very single-color bird. http://www.flickr.com/photos/22183060@N08/sets/72157640164475123/ David Wheeler N. Syracuse, NY -- Cayugabirds-L List Info: http://www.NortheastBirding.com/CayugabirdsWELCOME http://www.NortheastBirding.com/CayugabirdsRULES http://www.NortheastBirding.com/CayugabirdsSubscribeConfigurationLeave.htm ARCHIVES: 1) http://www.mail-archive.com/cayugabirds-l@cornell.edu/maillist.html 2) http://www.surfbirds.com/birdingmail/Group/Cayugabirds 3) http://birdingonthe.net/mailinglists/CAYU.html Please submit your observations to eBird: http://ebird.org/content/ebird/ --
