This gull was photographed by Martin Reid on January 24 and 25,
2003 at the Linkcrest Landfill, Fort Worth, Texas. Clearly a HERG-type
first-winter gull, the tail pattern looks extreme for smithsonianus
- perhaps too extreme? In many ways this bird seems to fit first-winter
vegae, however the undertail coverts are a bit heavily-barred
for this taxon, which usually has sparser barring here than smithsonianus
- but is it still within the D1 variation for vegae, I
wonder?:
