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Nick Komar | profile | all galleries >> Birds >> Large Gulls >> Mystery Gulls >> Vega (?) Gull tree view | thumbnails | slideshow

Vega (?) Gull

This adult gull was at Horseshoe Lake in Loveland, Larimer County, Colorado on the morning of 3 Dec 2014. Photos are lousy because I was holding my 70 mm lens against the 20x eyepiece of my Kowa spotting scope, and shooting through 4 dirty lenses in poor light (overcast) without a functional autofocus. Nonetheless, with a little imagination :-), the images do show a large gull the size of American Herring Gull, with a mostly white head (streaks limited to lower nape, and a smudge around the eye), a yellow bill with a small red gonys, a gray mantle almost as dark as nearby California Gulls, a thick white tertial crescent and strong pink legs. I believe that these are characteristics of Larus vegae vegae (or L. argentatus vegae), which is the western (Alaskan) race of the Siberian Herring Gull, a taxon not yet accepted on the official state bird list in Colorado.

A similar but different bird was at the Larimer Landfill 3 days later on 6 Dec 2014 - see https://pbase.com/quetzal/image/158463952.

For a similar bird photographed 3 years ago, see:
https://pbase.com/quetzal/mysterygullac.

Click on an image to enlarge and for additional commentary on each photo.
See other images in gallery for commentary and comparisons with other gulls g9/83/612483/3/158438178.wN9bNo66.jpg g9/83/612483/3/158438180.iFyOPgLG.jpg g9/83/612483/3/158438181.lVrGvDFm.jpg g9/83/612483/3/158438182.fnDlyQnN.jpg g9/83/612483/3/158438183.Ess8M8SK.jpg
g9/83/612483/3/158438184.1Q2dVSz7.jpg g9/83/612483/3/158438185.KU8SJzik.jpg g9/83/612483/3/158438187.rG3cQEXT.jpg g9/83/612483/3/158438188.5mfIpMaH.jpg g9/83/612483/3/158438189.quGpqZzf.jpg g9/83/612483/3/158438190.pNlrNqgs.jpg
g9/83/612483/3/158438146.SoXqwycp.jpg g9/83/612483/3/158438148.s0v3vSBp.jpg g9/83/612483/3/158438153.WXi3kf3f.jpg g9/83/612483/3/158438159.q9EG1X5K.jpg g9/83/612483/3/158438170.DjTWLcyr.jpg g9/83/612483/3/158438173.eGbRqzvx.jpg
g9/83/612483/3/158438174.HoJyDvs7.jpg