Another strange gull

[David Hyde]

Happy New Year to everyone! On Lake McIntosh this afternoon I saw a Ring-billed gull with pink legs! Never seen nothing like it before. I took some photos and here's one, it kinda looks like a Thayer's gull but... it has a light eye... Any suggestions at to what bird this is appreciated 😁

[T. Luke George]

I’m thinking American Herring Gull but the red on the bill is faded or missing- which occurs in some cases.

Luke George 

​T. Luke George, PhD

Master Instructor, ​Colorado ​State University

Department of Fish, Wildlife, and Conservation Biology

Wagar 110

970-491-3311 (o)

P​rofessor Emeritus, Humboldt State University

707-499-4053 (c)

t.luke...@gmail.com

"what is it you plan to do with your one wild and precious life?" Mary Oliver

On Thu, Jan 1, 2026 at 1:59 PM David Hyde <davidh...@gmail.com> wrote:

Happy New Year to everyone! On Lake McIntosh this afternoon I saw a Ring-billed gull with pink legs! Never seen nothing like it before. I took some photos and here's one, it kinda looks like a Thayer's gull but... it has a light eye... Any suggestions at to what bird this is appreciated 😁

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[Tony Leukering]

As noted already, this is an American Herring Gull. Besides the pink legs, note the wide, white tertial and scapular crescents. The latter is not particularly obvious in this photo, but the tertial crescent (created by the broad, white tips to the three tertials creating a white crescent just anterior to the black primary tips). Ring-billed Gull has both crescents thin and nowhere near as obvious. You can read more about scapular and tertial crescents in the In The Scope article in the January 2012 issue of Colorado Birds (CB_2012_46_1_Jan.pdf), page 78.

Tony Leukering

Denver