This 1st-Basic smithsonianus Herring Gull was photographed on November
25, 1998 at Mustang Island, Texas by Martin Reid. For a November
bird the pale head and bill, lack of "holly-leaf" juvenile
mantle/scapular feathers, apparently well-barred greater-coverts,
and blotchily-streaked underparts all recall argenteus,
but the tertials lack the full "holly-leaf" pattern
of typical argenteus, the flight shot reveals outer greater-coverts
that are unmarked, and the tail seems too extensively dark (and
uppertail coverts too densly-marked) for argenteus:
