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Western Gull

Larus occidentalis

Habitat:

Park by the ocean in a city

Notes:

Saw this gull in the Olympic Sculpture Park in Seattle. It had found this dent in the ground and didn't really want to move out of it, but as we got closer and closer trying to take a picture of it, it eventually decided to run away.

6 Comments

veneta.tashev
veneta.tashev 11 years ago

Thank you for the interesting discussion! I am still an amateur at bird watching. The book I have on Seattle birds does not include details/pictures for identifying juvenile birds.

Harrier
Harrier 11 years ago

As Liam said, primaries are too dark for a Glaucous-wing or Glaucous-wing hybrid. The bill looks too short and the head looks too cute and finely structured for a Herring, leaving Western as the best match.

Liam
Liam 11 years ago

Lesser Black-backed Gull would be a rare find on the West coast. Before anyone criticizes me for saying that, I will clarify that it does not mean it's not possible, just much less likely.
Juvenile gulls are always tough, but particularly on the Northwest coast, where it is said around half of the population are hybrids (particularly "Olympic" Gull, Glaucous-winged x Western).
That said, I personally think the primaries are too dark for Olympic or Glaucous/-winged. Herring or Western would be my inclination, more so Western with the amount of white on the tertials.

Mark Ridgway
Mark Ridgway 11 years ago

Maybe this is immature Larus fuscus graellsii - Lesser Black Backed gull ?

Juan DiTrani
Juan DiTrani 11 years ago

Sarah, the mission rules are not clear about only posting animals when they are flying. Besides, I think Karen ask you to let these kind of corrections to the Rangers.

sarahaw1981
sarahaw1981 11 years ago

Again this bird is not flying so it should not be in Global Flight mission.

veneta.tashev
Spotted by
veneta.tashev

Seattle, Washington, USA

Spotted on Sep 3, 2012
Submitted on Jan 2, 2013

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