www.gull-research.org

Thank´s for the link´s Brandon! I see your point with the Nelson´s gull, although, like you say, it´s still pretty straightforward to ID. I would be very interested if you could break down the danish bird in a detailed analysis.

Best regards
Hans

During my trip to central CA in early winter 2010 I saw very few Thayer´s gulls, so I had plenty of time to carefully eliminate other possibilities for the birds posted here. IMO, despite the Pacific coast being seriously hybrid-infested, the species is generally very straightforward to ID when seen...

Another view of Thay4 from my previous post, to compare underpart mottling.

I should add that my birds are November-December ones, for the record.

Further different Thayer´s gulls from CA for comparison. I would be baffled (or depressed, really) if a hybrid could come up with the set of features that Kent´s bird shows..

I agree with Oskar; why not a HG?

I think that primary pattern (incl. faint dark shafts on gc) points towards barabensis. Is it possible to exclude this possibility? It would be much of a relief..

Sorry Lou, it should of course be 3rd gen tertials on this bird. I meant 2nd gen in the hypothesis with this bird being a 1st cycle. Regarding argentatus I think it looks like a fine micha in every respect, from head, bill (classic!) and body shape to pattern in general, not to mention the very nice...

I´d also go for 2nd cycle mich. Note for example that coverts/lower tertials and most scaps are of the same generation. A pattern like this in a 1st cycle would require a complete covert moult. Although seen in southern populations, it´s not consistent with the 2nd generation upper tertials. Given i...

Yes, indeed a bit confusing to spot a "juvenile Baltic Gull" in early spring