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Posted by Jay Withgott on 20:45:49 08/02/08
Hello South Florida birders --
I am hesitant to report this bird because of the subpar conditions under which I made the sighting, but I feel I need to alert you to a bird worth checking out: A gull that appears to be a black-backed gull, very possibly a KELP GULL.
I am a birder currently living in Oregon and with extensive birding experience throughout the U.S. and world. I was birding in south Florida yesterday, 1 Aug., having added a personal day onto the tail end of a business trip. After a morning in Everglades N.P., I stopped briefly at Cutler Wetlands about 3:00 pm on my way to the airport. Because my trip was primarily for business with little birding time, I had only binoculars and no scope, and I had even forgotten to pack a field guide. I had about 20-30 min. at Cutler before having to rush off to catch my plane.
A single odd gull was standing among the many Laughing Gulls. It appeared to be a first-year black-backed gull of some type, showing the coarse-grained mottled or checkered brown-and-white upperparts and contrasting dull whitish underparts typical of the first-year plumages of these species. The bill was entirely black. The bird s shape matched a Great Black-backed Gull, with a bulky squarish head, large thick bill, and stout body. The body and wing extension did not appear long enough for a Lesser Black-backed Gull. The bill appeared too bulky for a Lesser Black-backed Gull, with a gonydeal angle and expanded tip. However, the bird s overall body size did not seem large enough for a Great Black-backed Gull. I estimated the bird s body length (bill tip to tail tip) while standing to be about 30% greater than that of the Laughing Gulls. The bird did not jump out to the naked eye or in binoculars as being huge in comparison to the Laughing Gulls. It was clearly considerably larger in all its dimensions, but did not tower over them. It never flapped, and only shifted slightly in position during the time I was there, so the best I could do for a size estimate is that it was about 30% longer in length and more than 30% greater in bulk. So in sum, it had the shape of a GBBG but the size of a LBBG -- a combination that seems to fit Kelp Gull.
I left feeling uncertain, figuring that I must have seen a Great Black-backed Gull and that they were not perhaps always as large-looking relative to Laughing Gulls as I would have expected. I thought it odd that one would be in south Florida in summer, but understood that they had been increasing in the Southeast, and perhaps were more regular than I would have guessed. The thought of Kelp Gull crossed my mind briefly, but I had never really studied them and was uncertain of their size or the appearance of their immatures, and I discounted the possibility until looking through field guides at home today.
I would urge birders in the area to check out this gull. With a telescope and with more time and preparation than I had yesterday, it should be possible to identify it. I am crossing my fingers that it stays around for you, and I look forward to hearing what others think.
Jay Withgott
Portland, Oregon
withgott@comcast.net
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