Photos
Photos of last year's Houston bird
First Texas Record
There are only two other TX records: a bird last winter seen on both
sides of the NM/TX border in El Paso (there are apparently photos of
this bird, but none in the public domain that I am aware of); and one
from Southside Water Treatment Facility in Dallas in the mid/late
'90s (which was not photographed). All have been first-cycle birds.
For any gull in March onwards we have to consider the effects of wear
and bleaching on their plumage. Many normally dark-winged
first-cycle gulls can appear much paler in these areas due to the
effects of exposure to the sun and sand of the Texas coast. On this
recent individual there is extensive wear evident in the wing tips
and tail - even so, the wings extend well beyond the tail tip. On
the open wing it is evident that the base tone to the primaries and
secondaries is white, and the upperwing coverts, while also being
basically white, have darker subapical chevrons that are typical of
Iceland Gull. The detail of the tail shows that the outermost
feathers are barred to their tips, while there is evidence of a
broader subterminal band on the central feathers - again typical of
Iceland Gull, especially kumlieni (nominate glaucoides more-often
lacks a solid tail band). There are some very pale thayeri (most are
likely to be intergrades of thayeri and kumlieni) that - when
standing - look very like this bird; however on the open upperside of
the wing the secondaries of such birds would be contrastingly darker
than the secondary coverts, forming a darker trailing edge to the
inner wing - on kumieni the secondaries are at most very slightly
darker, but usually are the same tone as the rest of the wing, while
on the palest individuals (and most glaucoides) they are slightly
paler than the wing coverts.
The current bird does not have the striking "Mew Gull-like" head/bill
structure of some (mostly female) ICGUs, but is within the range of
larger male ICGUs. Interestingly, measurements for nominate
glaucoides have more overlap with Herring Gull than do those for
kumlieni.
Note that the molt of head feathers (common at this time of year) can
subtly change our judgment of head shape and bill size.
In summary this individual has a rather bulky head/bill, but classic
plumage - in fact it would be hard to rule out nominate glaucoides
for this individual. Note that the bill pattern is typical for this
time of year, in contrast to most first-cycle thayeri which retain a
dark bill well into Spring.
Location:
There is a large construction site located at the northeast corner of
the intersection between I59 and Beltway 8 in Northeast Houston. The
site consists of a huge area of open dirt (to be a parking lot) with
a couple of water pits on the east side. To view this area, you
need to be on the ground-level access road heading north, immediately
north of Beltway 8. the birds move around a lot, sometimes being
fairly close to the road, and sometimes very far away. A telescope
will help significantly, and for more-subtle things like CAGU, THGU
and Vega Gull (all seen at this location this winter) a 'scope is
probably essential. Luckily this bird is so striking that you should
be able to locate it even with binoculars at a great distance.
