Posted by John H.Haas (209.240.200.75) on August 05, 2000 at 06:16:01:
In Reply to: gull & swallow posted by Fix on August 04, 2000 at 16:10:55:
: As soon as these images unscrolled, I knew right away I was looking at a gull and a swallow, which is a great beginning. The gull would seem to be adult or nearly so based on the lack of mottling beneath, the seeming lack of remnant dark in the tail, and what looks like an adult's bill pattern. The coverts are stringy but the scaps look fresh. The size of the bill looks too large for a bird of the Thayer's/Kumlien's/Iceland group. I have never seen a clean-headed Thayer's Gull in California. Might it be that this is an adult or near-adult Glaucous-winged Gull with unusually whitish primaries owing either to fading and wear (possibly its final set of nonadult remiges)? If we could see the bird in life and judge its heft and flight style, we might observe characteristics allowing a better ID. The swallow leaves me puzzled, although the touch of greenish across the crown, the white above the eye, and the 'ghost' pattern of obscure whitish in the pattern of the ad. Violet-green Swallow lead me to suspect that's what it is. I know now I must seldom take anything other than 'esthetic' glances at these birds, as I don't know what age it is. No fleshy gape is apparent, although that region seems in shadow; no remnant down tufts are seen on the crown, ordinarily the last place these birds have them since that is a region of the body it cannot preen. Is there a plumage of Tree Swallow in which this much white(-ish) can be shown? // Congratulations to young Evan Obercian on his level-headed analysis of the Warbling Vireo from last month.
My guess is that it is an adult Iceland Gull and a fledged Tree swallow. The bill size seems right to me for an Iceland gull and there is not black feathering anywhere to be seen on the bird. The green on the crown and back seem to resemble a juvinile tree swallow to me.