I’m sure that as I start to get a better collection of typical calls, I won’t do so much posting of clips. Perhaps I’ll be able to cut back and do a week at a time. However, so far it seems like every night brings something new that’s of interest to me. That said, this was a quiet night, and all the clips of interest came from this morning starting a little before dawn.

Raven Calls: These calls which I might describe as ‘caw-alk’ are fairly typical to hear from the Ravens around here, although perhaps not quite as common as the regular cawing call they make.

Northwestern Crow: A brief call by a Northwestern Crow. Sometimes there are lots of them around the neighborhood, but that does not seem to be the case currently. I thought the slight reverb/echo was interesting, but I’m not sure where it was coming from.

Crossbills: This is two clips recorded not too far apart. I believe the first clip is of Red Crossbills, and I think the second clip may be White-winged Crossbills, but I am uncertain. I’m hoping someone can confirm and/or clarify the difference in their calls for me.

This gull was in with the hundreds (probably over 1000) in the channel today taking advantage of the fish processor’s outflow. It initially stood out due to its dark gray upper parts.

Western Gulls are considered casual for Alaska, so I was not really expecting to find one in Sitka any time soon. I am still not absolutely sure this bird is a Western Gull, but the only other realistic possibility seems to be a Glaucous-winged X Western Gull hybrid, with mostly Western Gull genes.

Characters that lead me to this conclusion include: Large bulbous beak, pale eye with yellow eye ring, dark upper parts, pink legs, and extensive black on the primaries.

This gull is another mixed bag of characters.

Once again, I had difficulty getting photos of this bird with other individuals of more obvious identity. Unfortunately, I was also unable to get a straight profile shot. That said, my impression was that the size of this bird seemed consistent with what I consider normal for Thayer’s Gulls. It seemed pretty small to me for a Glaucous-winged Gull.

Despite the apparently small size, I probably would have figured it was a Glaucous-winged Gull due to the gray wing-tips, since, as a relative new-comer to the challenges of gull identification, I tend to privilege that easy-to-see field-mark over others (though perhaps I shouldn’t). However, I’ve never seen an otherwise obvious Glaucous-winged Gull with pale eyes. After looking in Gulls of the Americas, I see that up to 1% of Glaucous-winged Gulls can have paler eyes, but the example given there has eyes that are nowhere near as pale this gull’s. I thought Kumlien’s Gull might be a possibility, but they seem quite a bit paler overall, from what I can tell.

I saw a similar gull last year (look at the last gull in the entry) and thought it was probably a Glaucous-winged Gull, but now I’m even less sure. Still, I can’t think of any reasonable hybrid combination that might result in this particular blend of characters.

Any help with this identification is certainly appreciated.

More Gull Identification Challenges

A couple of days ago, I saw this gull at McDonalds hoping for handouts. Although the colors seemed basically right for a Thayer’s Gull, its bulk did not. It seemed very comparable in size/shape to other Glaucous-winged Gulls that were nearby, and qualitatively it struck me as significantly larger than I tend to associate with Thayer’s Gulls. I tried to get photos of it with other birds for comparison, but was unable to do so as there was a particularly aggressive bird that appeared to me to be a second-cycle Glaucous-winged Gull. It chased several birds away from the car, presumably to keep the potential food source itself (of course, while chasing the other birds away, it typically missed opportunities to grab a bite). On a number of occasions it chased this particular mystery gull.

For now I am thinking this bird is probably a Glaucous-winged x Herring Gull hybrid due to the large bulk, dark eyes, and dark wingtips. I am definitely not completely confident with this choice, and would be interested to hear alternative suggestions.

Unidentified Gulls