Posted by Tony Leukering (152.163.204.20) on August 06, 2000 at 14:13:50:
In Reply to: gull & swallow posted by Fix on August 04, 2000 at 16:10:55:
Hi Joe and the rest of the gang:
I believe that I agree with David Fix, that the gull is a Glaucous-wing (GWGU) in sub-adult plumage (last pre-adult Alternate?) with very faded and worn primaries. While I don't recall seeing birds looking like this in CA, my trip to western Alaska last fall was quite instructive. ALL of the sub-adult GWGUs there had white primaries in August and early September! So, with everything else about the bird looking good for GWGU (IMHO), I'll go with that one. The swallow is a Violet-green, probably a first-year female. The pale area coming around the auriculars is only gray, but I've not seen Tree Swallow match this pattern, whereas it is fairly frequent in VGSW.