Weird gull at Crosswinds Marsh - 16 December

[Allen Chartier]

Birders,

This morning, while out scouting for the Monroe CBC, I wound my way home and
stopped at Crosswinds Marsh.  I ran into Walt Pawloski there and we both
checked out the group of gulls resting on the ice just west of Haggerty
Road.  In addition to two adult Lesser Black-backed Gulls, I found another
interesting adult gull that at this point I believe may have been a hybrid
Herring X Great Black-backed Gull.

It was slightly larger than all the other Herring Gulls present, and clearly
smaller than the dozen or so Great Black-backed.  The mantle was distinctly
darker gray than all the Herring and Ring-billed, but was not as dark as the
Lesser Black-backs.  This impression of darker shade was consistent during
cloudy skies, and during a brief period of partly sunny skies.  The
primaries were black with white tips, the body, tail, and head were all
white, with only a very few brownish streaks on the back of the head.  The
bill looked small for the size of the head, and was yellow with a red spot
on the gonys.  The legs were pink.  My initial though (hope!) was that it
might be a Yellow-legged Gull (Larus cachinnans), but the pink legs and
larger than Herring size rule that out.

I took several digiscoped images of the bird and hope to have them on my
website sometime later this evening.  Check my site at:
http://www.amazilia.net/images/Birds/Gulls/Gulls.htm.  I would be VERY
interested in any opinions about this bird.

Also of note today was an adult Lesser Black-backed Gull at the Whiting
Plant and a Killdeer at Luna Pier, both in Monroe Co., and an adult Glaucous
Gull at Grace Lake (a.k.a. "Tyler Road Pond") in Wayne County.

Allen Chartier
amazilia1 at comcast.net
1442 West River Park Drive
Inkster, MI  48141
Website: http://www.amazilia.net
Michigan HummerNet: http://www.amazilia.net/MIHummerNet/index.htm