Probable KELP GULL (Larus dominicus)
8 NOV 2008, Quintana Jetty (Brazoria County, TX)
Cin-Ty Lee
This bird was discovered at about 710 AM by Ron Weeks at the base of the Quintana Jetty. It was
associating with a flock of Laughing and Franklin's Gulls and a few Ring-billed Gulls and Royal
Terns. Ron called me at about 712 AM as I was at the Quintana Neotropical Bird Sanctuary staging
to lead a Texas Ornithological Society birding field trip. Ron said he had a very dark-backed gull,
and knowing Ron, this sounded like I should check it out. I told some of the TOS participants who
had already arrived to stay put and wait for others so that I could drive quickly down to see this bird.
I got down there within 2 minutes and found Ron out there still on the bird. I took a brief look and
the first thing that came to mind was a possible Kelp Gull due to the almost black mantle and pale
gray to slightly yellow-green legs. However, I couldn't look at it for long as I had to return to the TOS
participants! I made it back to the bird sanctuary by 728 AM and gathered all the participants and
headed back down to the jetty. All of the participants (~18) were able to watch the bird. I spent that
time photographing it (Ron's camera battery had died). Abe Moore, who was filming the TOS field
trip, for the Texas parks and wildlife television program also filmed the gull with HD video. Ron then
went back to the Quintana bird sanctuary to pick up any TOS stragglers so that nobody would be
abandoned.
The only observers with extensive large-gull-experience at the time were Ron and me. We
discussed the identity of this bird at length, considering Great Black-backed, Lesser Black-backed,
Slaty-backed, Western/Yellow-footed, and Kelp. Both of us ultimately decided tentatively that this
bird was a Kelp Gull, knowing well the possibility of a hybrid such as "chandaleur" gulls.
Below is my own description of this bird (written at 7 PM, 8 NOV 2008), independent of any
discussions with Ron after the initial sighting and independent of examining any reference
books/sources.
Overall Impression: this was a large, dark-backed gull in adult plumage. It was significantly larger
than the Laughing and Franklin's Gulls in the area. It was also substantially larger than the
Ring-billed Gulls. There were no other large gulls to compare it to in terms of size, but based on my
experience with Lesser Black-backed, Great Black-backed and Herring, this bird seemed larger than
Lesser Black-backed, perhaps comparable in size to a Herring, but certainly smaller than Great
Black-backed. One of the striking structural features of this bird was that it had a relatively heavy
bill, thicker than Lesser Black-backed and Herring, but not as bulky as Great Black-backed. The
wings also looked proportionately long, akin to Lesser Black-backed (and not Herring or Great
Black-backed or Western), extending beyond the tip of the tail and drooping towards the ground.
Overall, the body was bulky, so it did not have the streamlined appearance reminiscent of Lesser
Black-backed Gull.
Coloration: The bird's head and undersides were immaculate white. There was no hint of streaking
on the head or face, ruling out Lesser black-backed. The mantle was completely dark, almost black
in color. The darkness of the mantle was almost indistinguishable from the black wingtips. The
black wingtips showed no white windows on the sitting bird (the tips seemed complete, e.g., not worn
off). The tertial edges were highly worn, but a small amount of the white tertial edges still remained
(albeit with frayed feathers). These white tertial edges generated a thin apron to the bird's dark
mantle, contrasting strongly between the nearly black mantle and the black wingtips. Tail was
immaculate white in color.
The legs were grayish to slightly gray-green/yellow in color. The iris was pale and was surrounded
by a dark, somewhat reddish orbital ring. The bill was yellow, but had a scarlet red spot at the base
of the gonydeal tip. There was no hint of black coloration in the bill.
At about 820, a beachcomber scared the gulls and the gull flew off, flying up the Brazos Ship
Channel until it couldn't be seen anymore. In flight, the darkness of the mantle was striking as there
was no contrast between the dark mantle and the wingtips. The innermost primaries showed
perhaps one or two white windows, but otherwise the primaries were black.
Our entire group left at about 830 and continued on the field trip.
Below are a series of photos taken with a Lumix Panasonic DMC-TZ5 through a Swarovski Spotting
scope.
Preliminary summary: This was clearly an adult black-backed gull. It was not a Lesser Black-backed
gull because it was too large, too dark-backed, lacked streaking on the head (winter plumage adult
LBBG have intensely streaked heads), too bulky, and had too large of a bill. It was also not a Great
Black-backed Gull because the legs were not pink, it was not large enough, it's bill was not large
enough. We can rule out Western and Slaty-backed Gull by lack of bright pink legs. We can also
rule out Yellow-footed Gull because YFGs have much larger bills than our bird and have much
brighter yellow legs. My preliminary assessment is that Ron's bird is an adult KELP GULL. One
other possibility is that this is one of those "Chandaleur" gulls that represent hybrids between
Herring and Kelp Gulls. Although I have extensive experience with all of the other gulls mentioned, I
have zero experience with Chandaleur Gull. However, from what I have read previously on
Chandeleur gulls, their mantle colors are intermediate in darkness between Kelp (almost black) and
Herring (light gray). As far as I can recall and tell from my photos, the mantle on Ron's bird is nearly
jet black, just as black as the wingtips. I am of course open to other suggestions.
8 NOV 2008, Quintana Jetty (Brazoria County, TX)
Cin-Ty Lee
This bird was discovered at about 710 AM by Ron Weeks at the base of the Quintana Jetty. It was
associating with a flock of Laughing and Franklin's Gulls and a few Ring-billed Gulls and Royal
Terns. Ron called me at about 712 AM as I was at the Quintana Neotropical Bird Sanctuary staging
to lead a Texas Ornithological Society birding field trip. Ron said he had a very dark-backed gull,
and knowing Ron, this sounded like I should check it out. I told some of the TOS participants who
had already arrived to stay put and wait for others so that I could drive quickly down to see this bird.
I got down there within 2 minutes and found Ron out there still on the bird. I took a brief look and
the first thing that came to mind was a possible Kelp Gull due to the almost black mantle and pale
gray to slightly yellow-green legs. However, I couldn't look at it for long as I had to return to the TOS
participants! I made it back to the bird sanctuary by 728 AM and gathered all the participants and
headed back down to the jetty. All of the participants (~18) were able to watch the bird. I spent that
time photographing it (Ron's camera battery had died). Abe Moore, who was filming the TOS field
trip, for the Texas parks and wildlife television program also filmed the gull with HD video. Ron then
went back to the Quintana bird sanctuary to pick up any TOS stragglers so that nobody would be
abandoned.
The only observers with extensive large-gull-experience at the time were Ron and me. We
discussed the identity of this bird at length, considering Great Black-backed, Lesser Black-backed,
Slaty-backed, Western/Yellow-footed, and Kelp. Both of us ultimately decided tentatively that this
bird was a Kelp Gull, knowing well the possibility of a hybrid such as "chandaleur" gulls.
Below is my own description of this bird (written at 7 PM, 8 NOV 2008), independent of any
discussions with Ron after the initial sighting and independent of examining any reference
books/sources.
Overall Impression: this was a large, dark-backed gull in adult plumage. It was significantly larger
than the Laughing and Franklin's Gulls in the area. It was also substantially larger than the
Ring-billed Gulls. There were no other large gulls to compare it to in terms of size, but based on my
experience with Lesser Black-backed, Great Black-backed and Herring, this bird seemed larger than
Lesser Black-backed, perhaps comparable in size to a Herring, but certainly smaller than Great
Black-backed. One of the striking structural features of this bird was that it had a relatively heavy
bill, thicker than Lesser Black-backed and Herring, but not as bulky as Great Black-backed. The
wings also looked proportionately long, akin to Lesser Black-backed (and not Herring or Great
Black-backed or Western), extending beyond the tip of the tail and drooping towards the ground.
Overall, the body was bulky, so it did not have the streamlined appearance reminiscent of Lesser
Black-backed Gull.
Coloration: The bird's head and undersides were immaculate white. There was no hint of streaking
on the head or face, ruling out Lesser black-backed. The mantle was completely dark, almost black
in color. The darkness of the mantle was almost indistinguishable from the black wingtips. The
black wingtips showed no white windows on the sitting bird (the tips seemed complete, e.g., not worn
off). The tertial edges were highly worn, but a small amount of the white tertial edges still remained
(albeit with frayed feathers). These white tertial edges generated a thin apron to the bird's dark
mantle, contrasting strongly between the nearly black mantle and the black wingtips. Tail was
immaculate white in color.
The legs were grayish to slightly gray-green/yellow in color. The iris was pale and was surrounded
by a dark, somewhat reddish orbital ring. The bill was yellow, but had a scarlet red spot at the base
of the gonydeal tip. There was no hint of black coloration in the bill.
At about 820, a beachcomber scared the gulls and the gull flew off, flying up the Brazos Ship
Channel until it couldn't be seen anymore. In flight, the darkness of the mantle was striking as there
was no contrast between the dark mantle and the wingtips. The innermost primaries showed
perhaps one or two white windows, but otherwise the primaries were black.
Our entire group left at about 830 and continued on the field trip.
Below are a series of photos taken with a Lumix Panasonic DMC-TZ5 through a Swarovski Spotting
scope.
Preliminary summary: This was clearly an adult black-backed gull. It was not a Lesser Black-backed
gull because it was too large, too dark-backed, lacked streaking on the head (winter plumage adult
LBBG have intensely streaked heads), too bulky, and had too large of a bill. It was also not a Great
Black-backed Gull because the legs were not pink, it was not large enough, it's bill was not large
enough. We can rule out Western and Slaty-backed Gull by lack of bright pink legs. We can also
rule out Yellow-footed Gull because YFGs have much larger bills than our bird and have much
brighter yellow legs. My preliminary assessment is that Ron's bird is an adult KELP GULL. One
other possibility is that this is one of those "Chandaleur" gulls that represent hybrids between
Herring and Kelp Gulls. Although I have extensive experience with all of the other gulls mentioned, I
have zero experience with Chandaleur Gull. However, from what I have read previously on
Chandeleur gulls, their mantle colors are intermediate in darkness between Kelp (almost black) and
Herring (light gray). As far as I can recall and tell from my photos, the mantle on Ron's bird is nearly
jet black, just as black as the wingtips. I am of course open to other suggestions.
