January 3rd 2007. Rochester Waste Water Treatment Plant, NH. Unidentified Gull. Larus sp. Adult/near adult winter. Plus images of Lesser Black-backed Gull from Rochester WWTP on January 10th, 2007. This interesting bird was found by Ben Griffith whilst searching for the reported Slaty-backed Gull. A group of about of about six of us watched for a while without drawing any firm conclusions, except that it clearly wasn't an American Herring Gull L. (a) smithsonianus or a Lesser Black-backed Gull L. f. graellsii/intermedius. It certainly showed yellowish toned legs, though not bright yellow, and the tone of the upperparts was thought to be too pale for a typical graellsii. A hybrid Lesser Black-backed x Herring Gull seems likely, though I've yet to find a reference of graellsii interrbreeding with smithsonianus. We'd appreciate any comments or feedback on the identification of the bird. james@keenbirding.com Images taken using Canon Powershot A540 through Swarovski HD Telescope. |
       Lesser Black-backed Gull L.f. graellsii/intermedius, Rochester WWTP, January 10th, 2007.  Lesser Black-backed Gull L.f. graellsii/intermedius, Rochester WWTP, January 10th, 2007. |