Posted by Phil Pickering (208.46.229.81) on August 08, 2000 at 22:06:30:
In Reply to: musing on the gull once more posted by Fix on August 07, 2000 at 19:39:51:
I agree, it appears to have fresh body plumage. The outer primaries don't look fresh, but they also don't appear to be in late-summer tatters, so I would say the photo was most likely taken in spring or early summer (post spring molt). The amount of adult-gray in the coverts and the near-mature appearance of the bill suggest this bird is at least in its 3rd-spring. IF this is the case, I wouldn't expect a (normal) Glaucous-winged of this level of maturity to have whitish primaries this early in the year.
I think it's possible the foreshortening and downward angle of the bill might be increasing the "apparent" gonydeal angle. I think a level, direct profile view might show an angle on the slight end for GW, and within the typical range of Glaucous, particularly of small-billed barrovianus. I don't really see that much bulge there.
The shaded whitish outer primaries actually look blue on my monitor, so it's hard to judge actual mantle contrast. Also, for whatever it might be worth in relation to this gull, there's a statement in Grant about barrovianus averaging darker mantled than larger nominate Glaucous.