[EBB Sightings] Mystery gull at Lake Merritt?

On Sat, 05 Nov 2005 18:19:23 -0800, Kristi  wrote:

>I¹ve been seeing a gull at Lake Merritt the past week that I can¹t ID. It is
>a large gull (size of adult Western Gull) with grey primaries, white tail,
>and pink legs. I snapped a few photos:
>http://pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/mamkristi/album?.dir=/706a&.src=ph
>It looks similar to a Glaucous-winged Gull but the head and neck markings
>seem rather dark.
>Is it a Glaucous-winged? A hybrid?

It's a Glaucous-winged.  They can get a very smudgy head and neck in the
winter.

Here's a key to help identify winter gulls in the Bay Area:

http://fog.ccsf.edu/~jmorlan/gull_key.pdf

-- 
Joseph Morlan, Pacifica, CA 94044  jmorlan (at) ccsf.edu 
Fall Birding Classes start Sep 13  http://fog.ccsf.edu/~jmorlan/
California Bird Records Committee  http://www.wfo-cbrc.org/cbrc/