Western Gull off Mexico?

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Eric Hopton
Posts:11
Joined:Tue Aug 16, 2011 4:59 pm
Western Gull off Mexico?

Post by Eric Hopton » Mon Aug 06, 2012 11:13 pm

Seen off the Pacicfic coast of southern Mexico, this gull is still puzzling me. I only managed to get this single poor shot.
I lean towards Western but clearly Californian is also possible. The wings were very dark with pale primaries but the heavily marked tail with dark terminal band shows up in the photo.

Any ideas would be greatly appreciated.
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3660 Western Gull poss 4.jpg
3660 Western Gull poss 4.jpg (388.06KiB)Viewed 2396 times

Eric Hopton
Posts:11
Joined:Tue Aug 16, 2011 4:59 pm

Re: Western Gull off Mexico?

Post by Eric Hopton » Tue Aug 07, 2012 7:13 am

I meant to include smithsonianus as a possible and on reflection the location and extensive pale mirrors make this perhaps the most likely - it was a little too far south for regular Western.

Chris Gibbins
Posts:20
Joined:Tue Nov 02, 2010 5:15 pm

Re: Western Gull off Mexico?

Post by Chris Gibbins » Wed Aug 08, 2012 7:27 am

Hi. It is a skua rather than a gull....

Best regards

Chris

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