This presumed first-basic smithsonianus Herring Gull was photographed at Bolivar
Flats, Texas on November 21, 1999 by Martin Reid:- Note the 2nd-generation
mantle and scapulars except for the lower-most, which are retained
juvenile (and still quite fresh-looking); the slender bill with
GLGU-like (or CAGU-like) pattern; the long wings with thin, pale
crescents at the tips and P10 just extending beyond P9; the checkering
of the median and inner greater coverts; the rather sparsely-marked
undertail coverts; the notched white basal outer edge to the outer
retrix (thus unCAGU-like). This bird was in the company of this
juvenile bird that shares many of the
same characteristics. Compare them to a pair of distinctive
birds from Corpus (bird 1; bird
2), and these two birds from just
up the beach; could these events be examples of siblings wintering
together? where are these birds coming from?:
