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Hi all, I dropped in at Cherry Hill today and found a gull that puzzles me. The puzzlement may just have been created by limited visibility (there was wind, rain, and mist) and by confusion on my part. Still, I'm wondering if someone might be willing to look at a few pictures (of rather low quality) and let me know what they think. Here are two pictures that allow for a size comparison with a Herring Gull at about the same distance: http://picasaweb.google.com/sepenner2/CherryHillGull#5499491907295283410 http://picasaweb.google.com/sepenner2/CherryHillGull#5499491902228246114 Here are two pictures from a bit closer: http://picasaweb.google.com/sepenner2/CherryHillGull#5499491912860227154 http://picasaweb.google.com/sepenner2/CherryHillGull#5499491906756103170 Some salient points: 1) The gull was quite a lot smaller than the numerous Herring Gulls in the area. I know that there is some variation in Herring Gull sizes, but this gull struck me as too small to be a Herring Gull. But maybe there is even more variation than I think. 2) My next thought was that it was a Ring-billed Gull. But Ring-billed Gulls were the common gull in New York where I lived for the last five years, and I convinced myself that this bird just didn't quite look right to be a Ring-billed Gull. That said, I definitely still think that Ring-billed is a possibility. 3) One reason I doubted Ring-billed is the head shape: it looks more rounded to me than what I would have expected. But here it would have been really handy to have a few Ring-billed Gulls sitting around for comparison purposes. 4) I kept trying to figure out what the colour of its legs was, but the low visibility left me unsure. Generally, the legs didn't look yellow to me, but one could definitely imagine yellow legs with the last of the photos linked to above. 5) The eyes consistently looked dark to me, but, given the visibility, I'm not sure how much I would stake on that. 6) One additional piece of information not evident from the photos: the upper side of the tail was entirely white. A couple of the features I mentioned (head shape, eye colour) might suggest Mew Gull. But (a) Mew Gull doesn't seem very likely around here and (b) not all its features match Mew Gull well (e.g., I would have expected more obvious white crescents on its wings if it were a Mew Gull). I also don't have any experience with Mew Gulls, making such a judgement trickier. Anyway, if someone can tell me more about this gull, I would be grateful. Best wishes, Sydney Sydney Penner 114 Willow Ave. Berwick, N.S. B0P 1E0 sfp@cornell.edu
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