Idaho Bird Records Committee Rarities Report Form

Use a separate sheet if necessary to continue comments.

Mail this report to Shirley Sturts, Secretary, Idaho Bird Records Committee

4887 Fernan Lake Road, Coeur d'Alene, ID 83814

Species: Glaucous Gull

Reporter: (include address, phone, e-mail)

Lisa Hardy

819 W. Park Ave.

Kellogg, ID 83837

basalt@earthlink.net

Other Observers:

none

Date Report Prepared: 11/25/2011
Date Sighting Occurred: 11/24/2011

Locality of Observation: Anderson Lake, near Harrison, Kootenai County, ID
Habitat: freshwater lake
Conditions: cloudy, 45 degrees F, little or no wind

Did you take notes…

during the observation? ____________

after the observation? ____X__________

the same day? ____________________

another day?______________________

not at all? ________________________
Did you consult a field guide or other reference work?

during the observation?____________

later the same day? ______X_________

another day? _____________________

not at all? ________________________
What guide(s) or reference(s) did you consult? Gulls of North America, Europe and Asia, Olsen & Larsson

Description: Significantly larger than the Ring-billed Gulls with which it was associating. Pale all over, basically a shade of off-white, with light brown checkering on the scapulars and coverts. The visible portion of the folded primaries were the same shade of off-white as the base color of the scapulars, and were unmarked. The legs and bill were pink; the distal ~20% of the bill was black (black all the way to the tip). The eye was dark.
Behavior: Standing in very shallow water. Flew once a short distance but I was not able to study it in flight as I was fiddling with my camera.

How and when did you positively identify the bird, and what clinched the identification for you? Before I even lifted my binoculars, GLGU popped into my mind because of this bird's size. The pale, unmarked primary tips, the large, bulky body, and the pink bill with black terminal tip convinced me that this was a juvenile Gaucous Gull while I was studying it in my scope.

How did you eliminate similar species, and what were they? The pale, unmarked primary tips eliminate other gull species except the Kumlien's-Iceland group, and hybrids of them. The pink bill with strongly contrasting black tip eliminates these other pale-primaried candidates fairly well, but also the large, chesty body, with a bulk on the order of double that of a RBGU, eliminates the Iceland group.

Experience with this species (and similar species): I don't recall having had the opportunity to study a GLGU at such close range before.
General birding experience: intermediate

Were photo(s), video, and/or audio obtained by you? (If yes, please include or attach) Two photos attached, cropped from originals. The second is an area shot showing the size difference between this bird and the RBGU. All the other gulls in the photo are RBGU.

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