The over riding most wanted to see bird of the trip didn't give itself up lightly. The first of my very few Thayer's Gulls was the third-winter down the page found at Laguna Park lake in San Louis Obispo. I didn't see it arrive, I just turned around and there he/she was stood on the post. Less than ten shots later and it was gone. With that early success I thought I would get many many more but over the next week and a bit I only had a further four birds. This is good but considering I was looking through hundreds of birds the success rate should have been higher. My other birds, detailed below, were from Roberts Lake near Monterey, Moss Landing and Goat Rock Beach near Jenner north of Bodega Bay, there were none that I could find amongst the thousands of gulls at Salinas River Mouth.
For more images of Thayer's Gull click here.
California - November 2009
Thayer's Gull
Heermann's Gull
Boneparte's Gulls
Mew Gull
Ring-billed Gull
California Gull
Thayer's Gull
Hybrids
Albino Gull sp.
Glaucous-winged Gull
Yellow-footed Gull
Western Gull
American Herring Gull
The juvenile Thayer's Gull above and below relate to the same individual photographed at Roberts Lake near Monterey.
Note the small size and light build of the bird along with the overall uniform muddy tones to the plumage, The bill is small, slender and fairly dark though just becoming paler based. The eye looks rather large in the small rounded head.
The scapulars are brown centred with broad white fringes creating a 'frosty' appearance. The wing-coverts seem to be a little whiter than I was expecting with obvious barring and the tertials are well patterned.
The primaries are darker than the tertials with white tips and fringes which is good for Thayer's Gull. Despite the rather open and barred aspect of the wing coverts and tertials this looks as good a s Thayer's Gull as I'm going to get, and it looks like numerous other photos I've seen of the species on the various gull websites.
The minute this bird, above and the next three images, landed in front of me at Goat Rock Beach, Jenner my instant response was Thayer's Gull. I then managed to talk myself in and out of the identification several times but I can't really see anything that would not make it a Thayer's Gull.
The head is small and rounded, the bill slender and dark, the plumage is uniformly plain brown and the scapulars have broad pale fringes creating a checkered upper-part appearance. Unlike the previous bird greater coverts are more solid with finer barring and the tertials show less bold patterning.
The primaries are distinctly darker than the wing coverts and the tail can be seen to pretty much wholly dark. On a whole the bird did not have an American Herring Gull feel to it, it was also smaller than that species and closer or the same size as some of the nearby California Gulls.
Depending on where the light was it could have an affect on how the bird looked. With the change of position the image below shows it to be a paler bird. Note the pattern of the juvenile scapulars, the small dark head with rather large dark eye and the slender dark bill.
This in flight shot shows the venetian blind affect, the pale inner webs of the outer primaries in conjunctions with the dark feather tip. This along the the overall more 'Iceland Gull' jizz of the bird, the dark greater coverts bar, the strongly barred upper-tailed covers and all dark tail finally closed the deal on Thayer's Gull.
Now here we have the first of all of my Thayer's Gulls, the third-winter at Laguna Park in San Louis Obispo. Immediately the bird is obvious with an almost Iceland Gull like quality. Many Thayer's Gulls have darker eyes than this but this doesn't appear to be unusual.
Ages as a fourth-year by the dark bill markings and the black markings in the tail. Of real interest in identifying the bird is the long white mirror to the underside of P10, the bright bubble gum pink legs and the small rounded Iceland Gull like head.
A typical adult at Moss Landing. Note the underside of P10, the short bright pink legs, small head, slender bill and extent of head mottling
The same adult at Moss Landing, note the patterning of the outer primaries.
My final Thayer's of the trip was this fine adult that came into the flock on the beach at Goat Rock near Jenner. It lingered for around half an hour preening but had a habit of always moving to the middle of the flock which meant it was generally partially obscured so getting these images in harsh light was more of a challenge that it actually looks, especially as I was hand holding the heavy 1D with an even heavier 500mm F4 prime lens.
Obtained this flight shot as it departed, not to be seen again. Note the primary pattern