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Nick Komar | profile | all galleries >> Birds >> Large Gulls >> Mystery Gulls >> Mystery Gull AC Possible Vega Gull adult tree view | thumbnails | slideshow

Mystery Gull AC Possible Vega Gull adult

Digiscoped 28 Dec 2011 at Lake Loveland, Larimer County, Colorado (USA). Field marks indicating Vega Gull, Larus vegae vegae, include darker gray mantle, contrasting with wide white tertial and scapular crescents, faintly-streaked crown and hindneck, appearance of a dark eye, trace of a crimson-red orbital, and bubble-gum-pink legs.

Vega Gulls breed along the north coast of Siberia and winter in the western Pacific coast (e.g. Japan). The gray-scale of the adult mantle varies geographically, with some populations pale (like L. thayeri??) and some darker (like L. californicus??); darkest gray birds apparently are found at the western and eastern extremes of the breeding range, including St. Lawrence Island, Alaska. Records of Vega Gull in Colorado are all currently considered hypothetical. This bird was not accepted as Vega Gull by the Colorado Bird Records Committee.

Vega Gull is considered by the A.O.U. to be a subspecies of Herring Gull, Larus argentatus vegae.
For other possible Vega Gulls that I have photographed in Colorado, see these links:
https://pbase.com/quetzal/mysterygullo
https://pbase.com/quetzal/mysterygullq
https://pbase.com/quetzal/mysterygullt
https://pbase.com/quetzal/mysterygully
https://pbase.com/quetzal/mysterygullab
https://pbase.com/quetzal/mysterygullai
https://pbase.com/quetzal/mysterygullaj

Click on an image to enlarge. Other species shown in these photos include American Herring Gull (L. a. smithsonianus), Thayer's Gull (L. thayeri), Lesser Black-backed Gull (L. fuscus graellsi), and Ring-billed Gull (L. delawarensis).
Possible adult Vega Gull in Colorado Possible adult Vega Gull in Colorado Possible adult Vega Gull in Colorado Possible adult Vega Gull in Colorado Possible adult Vega Gull in Colorado
Possible adult Vega Gull in Colorado Possible adult Vega Gull in Colorado Possible adult Vega Gull in Colorado Possible adult Vega Gull in Colorado Possible adult Vega Gull in Colorado
Possible adult Vega Gull in Colorado Possible adult Vega Gull in Colorado Possible adult Vega Gull in Colorado Possible adult Vega Gull in Colorado Possible adult Vega Gull in Colorado
Possible adult Vega Gull in Colorado Possible adult Vega Gull in Colorado Possible adult Vega Gull in Colorado Possible adult Vega Gull in Colorado Possible adult Vega Gull in Colorado
Possible adult Vega Gull in Colorado Possible adult Vega Gull in Colorado Possible adult Vega Gull in Colorado Possible adult Vega Gull in Colorado Possible adult Vega Gull in Colorado
Possible adult Vega Gull in Colorado Possible adult Vega Gull in Colorado Possible adult Vega Gull in Colorado Possible adult Vega Gull in Colorado Possible adult Vega Gull in Colorado
Possible adult Vega Gull in Colorado Possible adult Vega Gull in Colorado Possible adult Vega Gull in Colorado Possible adult Vega Gull in Colorado