2nd-winter Thayer's Gull photoshoot

If somebody was to try and describe what a typical 2nd-winter Thayer's Gull looked like, I'd say good luck to them. Mind you, guess the same could be said about describing the same age of Herring Gull. As always, Chris Gibbins has done as good a job as anyone will and recently wrote this about the birds he saw, also in California, in December 2012. Many of his birds taken at the same sites as in the photos below - all taken in the period 16-23 February 2013! You'll notice that the Californian sun has got to a lot of birds between December and February, but structurally they remain the same - without doubt an 'in between' gull, where one moment you get an Iceland (Kumlien's) Gull-like feel and then the next it turns into an altogether more Herring Gull-like bird.

Photos 1 to 3. 2nd-winter Thayer's Gull, Milpitas, California Feb 2013 an average bird structurally, though quite retarded moult wise. No mirror to P10 with the outer primaries obviously dark due to the dark pigmentation from the outer webs bleeding onto the inner webs, and the often quoted 'venetian blind' effect created by the paler inner primaries (though in this bird the secondaries are bleached)

It is a case of educated guesswork based on experience, gut feel along with a number of plumage characters that when pieced together get you to a second-winter Thayer's Gull. However, with just a week to play with, it was a steep learning curve so hopefully this load of shots will be useful. Certainly compiling and writing about them has been useful to me so please do enjoy and do comment.

Photo 4. 2nd-winter Thayer's Gull, Jenner, California Feb 2013 a long-winged bird showing the neatly fringed brown primaries, 'fat feathering' that sometimes this species seems to show on its throat and solidly brown based tertials

Photos 5 and 6. 2nd-winter Thayer's Gull, Jenner, California Feb 2013. Quite a pale eyed bird which interestingly shows a white mirror on P10 but the primaries are otherwise characterised by the typical thayeri pattern - dark extending onto the inner as well as outer webs of the four outermost primaries as well as bleeding up to the primary coverts. Would this bird be pushed as a thayeri in a vagrancy context over here? I do wonder

Photos 7 and 8. 2nd-winter Thayer's Gull, Salmon Creek, California Feb 2013. Quite an advanced, Herring-like bird with a mirror to P10. However, the primary pattern is fine for thayeri and the very dark brown tail band is within range, though the uppertail coverts are perhaps cleaner than average. Not sure how identifiable this bird would be in Europe though...

Photo 9. 2nd-winter Thayer's Gull, Petaluma, California Feb 2013. Perhaps a fairly typical bird, with chocolate primaries fringed pale, obviously dark tertials and note the rather squat appearance caused by quite deep pink legs

Photo 10. 2nd-winter Thayer's Gull, Petaluma, California Feb 2013. A fairly chunky looking bird, yet fairly small in the field with a slim, Iceland-like bill. Note the pale edged chocolate brown primaries and solid brown tail with brownish uppertail coverts

Photo 11. 2nd-winter Thayer's Gull, Milpitas, California Feb 2013. A fairly uniform bird, especially tail and secondary wise though the outer primaries show what you'd expect for a thayeri and there's a venetian blind effect there too. At times, I still get a slight Glaucous-winged Gull feel on this bird but this stout appearance isn't necessarily a negative for thayeri

Photo 12. 2nd-winter Thayer's Gulls, Milpitas, California Feb 2013. Two contrasting birds in terms of moult, as well as the bird in the foreground appearing more snouty. Both are typically long-winged with dark brown primaries

Photo 13. 2nd-winter Thayer's Gull, Golden Gate Park, California Feb 2013. Close inspection shows a pale eye on this bird. Otherwise fairly typical with a mantle shade coming through that is a tad darker than American Herring Gull

juvenile Thayer's Gull photoshoot

I've finally managed to sort through, and near enough categorise, all the 1000s of gull images that I took in California. As one of the main targets of the trip was to have a look at Thayer's Gulls, I'll start with this species. Here are a load of juveniles - all taken in the period 16th to 23rd February 2013. Hope this will be useful viewing either now, or when the next candidate turns up in Britain or Ireland. Structurally they were very variable, ranging from snouty to rather meagre, Iceland Gull-like birds. One thing I have learnt is the variability of the species, and note in the following images the plumage wear and variable scapular moult (which is apparent in some of these birds, countering the popular late 90s/early noughties belief of Thayer's not showing this in midwinter).

Life histories

It was very quiet quality wise on the tip today, highlighting with a Yellow-legged Gull, and there were bizarrely no Caspian Gulls present; the closest we came was a 2nd-winter bird that at least had some cachinnans genes but was a long way off on several characters. There were also no Med Gulls (compared to at least half a dozen last Saturday) and Common Gull numbers were down. However, there are always ringed gulls which at least create something of interest when it comes to their life histories. Here are two from today that had been ringed by Paul Roper and the NTGG: -

fifth calendar year Herring Gull. Essentially an adult in plumage, this bird was ringed at the same site on 17th October 2009 and aged as a first-winter. Remarkably, until today, it hadn't been recorded in the three and a half years since it was ringed. 

fourth calendar year Herring Gull. A relatively retarded individual, this bird was ringed at Rainham on 12th November 2011 as a 2nd-winter and since then it has spent a lot of its time in France, being seen at the massive rubbish dump at Blaringhem, Nord, France (where a lot of ringed gulls from southeast England turn up) on 15 December 2011 and 23 November 2012, then slightly further northwest at Dannes, Pas-de-Calais on 19 December 2012 before being seen today.

California dreamscapes

I'm still going through and trying to index all my Californian gull images, so in the meantime thought it'd be nice to share a few atmospheric, more general shots just so you get a feel of what the place was like. It's one of those places that I'll go back to once again - stunning landscapes with the type of birding that I enjoy. As always, click on the image to make it larger.

Gulls watching the surf at Jenner

The boys with the boys at Petaluma - 18 birds of how many species?

And back to the coast. Californian larus style line up.

Another park and another load of showy gulls.

Californian gulling was generally in pretty spectacular locations.

Photographing the Rock Sandpiper at Bodega involved a slightly precarious climb down to the wave cut platform.

Having found an old chair, I chilled out while watching a Wilson's Warbler at Bodega Bay.

Big landscapes and big birds (condors) at Big Sur.

Sea arch into the sun at Jenner.

Deserted beach at Bodega Head just prior to dusk.

Route 1 just south of Monterey.

Russian River mouth with piled up driftwood.

Snow covered mountain peaks between Mines Road and San Jose.

Back to British gulling again

It didn't take me long to shift from the Thayer's and Glaucous-winged Gulls of California back to Caspian Gulls. On the tip today there were three of these beasts from the east, all 1st-winters, including a large, well-marked and showy bird that seemed to want to be an albatross at times when long calling, as well as generally just being agressive towards whatever got in its way: -

The other two birds were not quite as showy, and were less well-marked on the scapulars with one bird having much fresher, retained tertials too. There was also this guy, a Herring Gull (potentially a 2nd-winter on bare part colouration) lacking pretty much all of its pigmentation: -

And then, having been watching the Mew Gulls in Golden Gate Park exactly a week ago, closer than usual scruting was given to Common Gulls. Lots of variation in size, structure and moult. Here are a couple of proper retards: -

1st-winter

2nd-winter

Showing well at Golden Gate Park

We decided to go true dude on our final day and headed to Golden Gate Park in San Francisco. No major targets (aside from getting some nice images of Mew Gulls of all ages), just to see a few yanks at close range. The ponds, or at least one of them, was filled with Ring-necked Ducks and American Wigeons as well as a couple of Lesser Scaup - all to within a couple of metres. And they didn't pass the bread test (though the 3 Hooded Mergs on the same pond did).

drake American Wigeon

female American Wigeon

drake Lesser Scaup

drake Ring-necked Duck

Pied-billed Grebe

There were also the obligatory gulls just waiting to be papped, which included four Thayer's and some lovely Mew Gulls: -

juvenile Thayer's Gull

adult Mew Gull

Josh keeping the Western Gulls and hybrids alive

The place is the San Francisco equivalent of Hyde Park, so much so I almost expected Des McKenzie to burst out of the bushes. But he didn't, and nor did anyone else thankfully. It's a great introduction to Pacific coast US birding, and probably best to come here first as opposed to last as - typical of any urban birding - you don't get the biodiversity you get elsewhere. With just a load of common species to show for our casual efforts (Townsend's Warblers, Anna's Hummingbirds and three species of sparrow the highlights), Josh and Lee wanted to take the dudeometer to the next level, so we headed on down to the Golden Gate bridge.

And then there was a nice American Robin on a lawn along the Presidio, and the odd Western Grebe, Black Turnstone and Heermann's Gull by Fort Mason, before Josh navigated our way back through San Francisco to the airport largely based on his knowledge of the city from Grand Theft Auto San Andreas...

American Robin