Hi Liam, and others:
I won't claim to be an expert on Sabine's Gulls but with no other responses posted I figured I'd share my thoughts. This bird is still retaining juvenile plumage - I believe Sabine's Gulls (SABU) don't start their performative molt until reaching the wintering grounds whereas Laughing Gull (LAGU) could have started already. That said, most of the juvenile LAGUs I've seen over the last week haven't begun or may just be beginning PF molt. The amount of white on the face and throat of this bird does suggest SAGU but I really don't think that is diagnostic enough to eliminate a LAGU at this time of year. The overall color on the head, neck, and back seems to be a paler tan-brown than the gray-brown that a juvenile SAGU would show. A good example of this grayer color can be seen with a juvenile SAGU that Peter Vickery and Scott Weidensaul found off Eastern Egg Rock on 13 Sep 2007: http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist/S18010037. Color may be subjective, especially with such a distant photo, so the best field mark I can come up with in this photo is the color of the tertials and secondaries: This bird appears to have a fairly wide white edge that goes around the tips of its tertials, which is typical of a LAGU. I think a SAGU would show only a white edge (at least one this prominent) below the "tertial step" that would continue as a clean white stripe down the wing, formed by the visible white tips on the secondaries. The lack of that white stripe along the secondaries makes me think this is a juvenile Laughing Gull.
That is just my interpretation so I'd love to hear if anyone disagrees. This is definitely the ideal time to be looking for a Sabine's Gull in the northeast! Here are line graphs from ME, NH, and MA: http://tinyurl.com/zq66txm and New Brunswick: http://tinyurl.com/j7a5pkl to illustrate that point.
Good birding,
Doug Hitchcox
Staff Naturalist
Maine Audubon
207-781-2330 x237
dhitchcox@maineaudubon.org
> On Sep 11, 2016, at 6:25 PM, Liam Taylor <ltaylor.ulysses@gmail.com> wrote:
>
> Sorry Sean, no clear verdict yet. North American Gulls Facebook page gives some additional support for Sabine's, but people still wondering if Juvenile Laughing Gull. Added some extra notes and a zoomed-in pic to the eBird checklist. The most important update is the fact that my buddy, who was also there and took the (bad!) photos, says he noted wing marks on the gull in flight that would apparently match Sabine's. Unfortunately, we do not have a picture of that.
>
> Would love any other opinions from anyone with experience!
>
> http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist/S31515470
>
> Thanks,
> Liam
>
> On Sunday, September 11, 2016 at 1:50:53 PM UTC-4, Sean Hatch wrote:
> What's the verdict? Would LOVE to try for this guy. Thanks.
>
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