Hybrid Gulls- Larus sp.
Third-winters : North America
3rd-years - click on the links to go directly to the bird
Large North America west coast gull are a melting pot of hybrids of various ages and generations with most not being straight forward as one would hope in assigning parentage. Is it a Glaucous-winged Gull at the darker end of the scale to be a genuine bird or is it a hybrid? Is that first-winter dark gull with paler wing-coverts just a variation or is there mixed blood at play. Because of this and the fact I needed two of the gulls for my world gulls list it was major part in me returning to California several times.
I have covered a number of the ages and presumed hybrids in the following pages however as my experience of west coast hybrids is limited to not much more than a few weeks I may be wrong in some of my tentative identifications.
possible Western x Glaucous winged Gull hybrid, 3rd winter: Roberts Lake, Monterey, California, USA - 26th November 2009
The rather pale bluish-grey upper parts and the milky chocolate brown primaries elude to this bird being a hybrid.
