close but no cigar?

[Theo Muusse]

Today a 2cy Herring Gull tested my knowledge on smithsonianus;
a near all dark tail, beautyful barred uppertail-coverts and rump and undertail-coverts (dark broader than pale bars), tertials dark with only on the top third a marked fringe, scapulars near plain with only on the top some irregular markings, heavy head, pretty dark underparts and head and longish Glaucous Gull-like bill.
Not showing the characteristic shawl, leaving a Herring the choice it to be, although with quite some smithsonianus pointers...
Or is the shawl not needed in mid-summer moulting time?

Theo Muusse

[Theo Muusse]

The pics:

THeo

[Albert de Jong]

Today the look-a-like cigar was still present at the same place. Here two pics of today. With a herring gull of the same age in the second picture.

[adriaens]

Some pics of the 2nd-cycle smithsonianus that is currently in Kerry, Ireland:
http://pewit.blogspot.com/2010/08/ameri ... -gull.html

Very uniform plumage including lower breast and belly; all-dark tail; thin and quite long dark vertical bars on upper and under tail-coverts (not the triangular brown spots on whitish background of most European Herring Gulls); brown smudges on lower hindneck; relatively long bill; pale iris.

[Ruud Altenburg]

beauty is certainly not one of this bird's assets

[adriaens]

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder!

[Theo Muusse]

More pics.

http://waarneming.nl/waarneming/view/49605834

Theo

[Albert de Jong]

It seems hard to find pictures of 2cy smithsonianus in (late) summer. I found some:

http://www.pbase.com/m_muller/american_herring_gull
http://www.birdguides.com/iris/pictures ... 135139&v=0 (first picture)

A look-a-like very similar to the bird of this topic could be found on this interesting page: http://ostfoldmaker.blogspot.com/2009/1 ... likes.html (Individual 11)

[adriaens]

Just a few 2nd-cycle European Herring Gulls for comparison:
http://picasaweb.google.be/Zorkyyy/2ndC ... erringGull#
Note that bird 1-3 were all seen at the same location on the same date. I am not entirely sure of the age of bird 5; it could be a 3rd rather than 2nd cycle.

I have quite a few more examples of fairly dark 2nd-cycle birds, but in the above link I have limited myself to August birds only.

[adriaens]

Also, some stuff that is flying around in Iceland:

a dark hybrid Glaucous x Herring Gull -- quite a few birds of this dark type

HybridViking2c_Höfn_25-03-2010_065_small.jpg (128.63KiB)Viewed 6170 times

HybridViking2c_Höfn_26-03-2010_073_small.jpg (145.16KiB)Viewed 6170 times

An unidentified gull... It was not entirely typical of American Herring Gull,
and in the end I did not submit it to the Icelandic rarities committee.

Gullspec2c_Sandgerdi_22-03-2010_015_small.jpg (183.58KiB)Viewed 6170 times

Gullspec2c_Sandgerdi_22-03-2010_027_small.JPG (42.62KiB)Viewed 6170 times

With birds like that flying around in Europe, it is no wonder that we need very strict criteria.
See also the colour-ringed, dark argentatus in the blog already posted by Albert.