Candidate Vega Gull, Pueblo

[Archer Silverman]

Earlier this evening Sean Huntley and I had a candidate Vega Gull on the tires at the South Pueblo Marina. The bird displayed field marks like the broader white trailing edge to the wing, darkish eye, and wing pattern, but we still have to review the photos a bit more in depth. We’ll send to experts and see what they say. It would be great if someone could refind this bird and get a full spread wing shot.

Archer Silverman

Denver

[Patricia Cullen]

So has anyone chased this interesting gull?  Eye appears too dark for HEGU.

Is it a hybrid  GWGU/HEGU or a VEGU? Would that be a state record VEGU?

I don't see any new eBird reports for south side of Lake Pueblo studying this gull so far. 

Have Colorado gull experts weighed in on this one? 

Thanks,

Pat Cullen

Longmont, CO 

[David Hyde]

I'm no gull expert. This looks like a regular Herring gull to me (Smithsonianus). If you look in the Nat. Geographic field guide (6th edition) page 225 you will see the wingtip pattern in your photographs shown for Herring gull breeding adult next to the vegae illustration. They look similar. The three differences between the two seem to be (acccording to NG): vegae has a slightly darker mantle, a dark eye, and streaked head in winter. From your photos we can't tell if the mantle is 'slightly darker', the head is streaked, on zooming in on your photos the eye looks like it might be pale. A tough call

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[Archer Silverman]

Hey all,

It looks like this bird won't be able to be identified, at least from the photos that I got. The first two photos, which had the primaries stretched out, after review, turned out to be of a different bird, which was an American Herring Gull. Cook Inlet Gull (Glacous-winged X American Herring) is ruled out by the head being streaked, where Glaucous-winged would be more smudgy. I am pretty confident that this bird has a dark eye. I attached a couple more photos from different angles to the list. Dark-eyed Smithsonianus do occasionally occur. Here is a great example of a Vega-type Gull that ended up being Smith due mainly to a lighter mantle and the lack of the string of pearls pattern, which is another key mark of adult Vega. I don't think the mantle color can be honestly judged from my photos due to the lighting conditions. Overall, the dark eye, larger tercial crescent and secondary skirt, brighter pink legs, head streaking, and bill are what make this bird intriguing for Vega, but unless someone else gets an open wing shot, and a comparison shot with other gulls for the mantle, it won’t be identified. 

Although Vega would currently be a first state record, Andy Bankert recently found a promising Vega candidate while reviewing old photos (https://ebird.org/checklist/S50449398), which has been submitted to the COBRC. 

One more quick aside- Alvaro Jaramillo has a great video on the identification of adult Vega Gulls if folks are interested in learning more about the topic.

Happy birding!

Archer Silverman

Denver, CO

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