This gull was photographed by Martin Reid on February 01, 2003
at the Linkcrest Landfill, Fort Worth, Texas. It was one of five
1B HERG-type birds among the RGBUs. I kept coming back to this
one because of the "cold" tone to the bird that was
so different to the warm tones of the other large gulls, and reminded
me of late-winter 1B LBBG. There are a number of things wrong
for this as a LBBG, but there are a few things wrong for it as
a smith. HERG; I find my self speculating about a HERG-type
x LBBG-type hybrid? I use the suffix "-type" as I include
the possibility of argenteus/argentatus x graellsii/intermedius;
smithsonianus x graellsii/intermedius; birulai
x taimyrensis (and others?):
It was a rather small bird - the size of a runt HERG or a medium-large
LBBG:
Note below the rather sparse uppertail covert marks, the barred
base of the tail (but oddly washed grayish), and how dark are
the axillaries:
Note below the undertail coverts - closer to LBBG than smith.,
I feel:
In life, the underparts appeared rather too defined for smith.
- yet on the blurry extreme for LBBG:
In flight note the rather sparsely-marked uppertail coverts
