2cy Smith candidate, Iceland
This Smith candidate was photographed in the Reykjavík harbour on the 22 October 2016 by Daníel Bergmann. Unfortunately, no photos showing its underparts could be obtained. What is noticeable is the greyish appearance and the smooth coverts on this bird. The secondaries are not that blackish at all with some whitish fringes on the outer edges. The GC´s, greater and median primary coverts are quite uniform in colour and texture as well. The inner primary window is hardly visible, being just a bit paler than i.e there is barely a difference between the inner primary window and the coverts. There is black in primaries P10-P4. The median coverts have a bit of white but quite smooth in texture and similarly the LC´s are quite homogeneous. The tail feathers are quite blackish, apart from a very thin line on the outer vane on the outermore tail feather. The upper tail coverts/rump appear to be heavily barred. Tertials are a bit darker than the rest of the wing and with fine border/fringes. Little bit of grey on the scapulars indicate a 2cy. There appear to be 2nd- gen scapular feathers (examine). Perhaps the mixture of 1st and 2nd gen feathers on scapulars may support AHG. The head is diffuse greyish and the bill is black tipped. The bill colour needs more examination. The eye is still relatively dark. This appear to be a promising Smith candidate, but more work is needed to separate from Icelandic herring gulls that have similar colour texture.
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Last edited by Stefan on Sat Jan 26, 2019 2:00 pm, edited 1 time in total.