Saturday, January 23, 2010

Nelson Gull


I searched for a possible Glaucous Gull in Teaneck/Hackensack N.J and came up with this speciman a Gull specialist came up with a Nelson's Gull which is a mix of a Herring/Glaucous Gull any ideas? Yes it is a Nelson Gull.

6 comments:

Jim said...

Kevin, great shot. When I briefly saw the bird in real life it was on top of a lightpost 40 feet overhead. After seeing your shots & Bill's video I now think it is not a pure Glaucous, and Nelson's seems very plausible.

Bill said...

Kev, I saw this bird and thought it was a Glacous gull I have more photos , though not a nice here
>>http://photos.nynjbirdingguide.com/GalleryThumbnails.aspx?gallery=307003<<
Check them out and see how white the wing actually is. bill

Stuart Price said...

Nelsons Gull?!? Never heard of that one.......

Man, who decided to make Gulls ID so difficult these last 15 years or so?

Bob said...

Excellent shots of what I also believe is a Nelson's Gull. I'm not an expert, but I go 'gulling' way more often than a sane person should:/ First, your photos show a dark-eyed bird, pointing to a first-cycle gull. Check this shot out here to see a pure Glaucous 1st cycle bird and note the differences: http://www.pbase.com/ngannet/image/92764040 The obvious ones being the pale back and white wingtips as were mentioned. The book "Gulls of the Americas" (Howell/Dunn) is an excellent guide and shows a photo of a gull with similar patterning as yours, a Herring x Glaucous hybrid. Pure Glaucous can have dusky primary wingtips, but not as dark as yours IMO.

Anonymous said...

You have a nice set of photos here. Of birds I never get to see.

Kevin said...

The verdict is in by popular demand and a little Hybrid Science yes we do have a Nelson's Gull.

Thanks all , I would wish all of you would follow my blog on a regular basis instead of ID correction, it would be nice for change of having empty comments on my hard work.

Kev