Dear all
I was lucky today (25th Jan 2012) to see the Glaucous gull when everybody was gone around
1:50 pm, possibly flying in from NSW when the tide was about to recede.
From my observation I would like to add some features of the bird seen:
a) It was deeply keeled (deep-chested) and the lowest point fell behind the standing legs.
It was interesting to see that in the distance the folded wing tips was nearly just touching the
tail-end . It therefore looked quite unbalanced and bulky, the front part of the body a lot longer than
the part behind the legs.
b) What's more, the undertail coverts looked very slopy, just like ducks.
c) When it's flying, the upperwings are all pale, of course all spread with pinky/light rufous
marks, extending to the rump and right on the whole uppertail. The wings looked rather broad and short
as well.
d) In contrast to other 1st winter gulls, its almost whitish upper hindparts noticeably wings and back
looks very pale in stark oppoiste to its counter lowerparts when the bird was facing away from the observer.
Cheers.
S L Tai
Motto: A bird well seen gets the observer firmly embedded with lasting and detailed memories.
[ Last edited by tsheunglai at 25/01/2012 21:31 ]
