tsheunglai

Dear John

At last I can enjoy your good photo of the gull I excitedly pointed out to you that it was a Slaty-backed
Gull first winter.

The first and decisvie point is that the bird shows pale wing-coverts that contrasts distinctly with
the scapulars that are obviously darker and grayish. The only other first winter large gulls recorded in Hong with a complete blackish bill is Glacous-winged gull which is ruled out here. For first winter G-w do do not have a dark tail band that contrasts with its upper tail-coverts but your bird clearly shows the difference. A minor point is that, to quote Mr YY Tung that the face of a first winter s-b gull shows a darker patch that seems to have been left after being 'punched'. Your bird seems to show though it its
head is not shown completely sideway.

Hoping my points do not meet with serious or complete objections.

Cheers

S L Tai