[mou] Great Black-backed Gull, Duluth

[Dan Amerman]

Hello Everyone,

It was my morning to spend about four hours solo from
dawn on at the Wisconsin Point lighthouse, and I
thought it was a very nice but not that exciting of
morning until about ten a.m.  Brief story:  I saw a
1st winter Great Black-backed Gull, which is a lifer
for me.  I also got some good looks at the Pacific
Loon that Mike reported yesterday (probably the same
one anyway), and saw a different Thayers Gull -- this
one an adult on the Minnesota Point breakwater.

Long story:  I understand that there has occasionally
been a bit of skepticism about Great Black-backed Gull
sightings in Duluth, and having spent more early
mornings down at WI Point and Park Point this fall
than I care to admit, I can understand why.  There are
a LOT of immature Herring Gulls down there, and mixed
in among them are some of the pale headed variety with
dark patterned backs, that can sometimes even seem a
bit larger than the gull next to it.  I did however
get long looks (in brilliant sunlight and calm
conditions) at this particular bird twice: for two or
three minutes when it was in amongst a flock of
Herring Gulls diving at the water and swirling around
the front of an outbound Laker, and for another about
five minutes or so when it was flying in a flock
behind the ship.  This is what I saw:

SIZE.  When I first saw the bird, my first thought was
"Whoa!  That is a big gull!"  It was noticeably larger
than any of the nearby Herring Gulls that were flying
nearby, with a different structure.  It had a broader
body, accented by the width of its broad, white rump. 
The wings looked a bit longer as it would go right by
another bird (Herrings), and they were distinctively
broader than the other birds.  The bird just plain
looked chunkier, bulkier, and well, bigger than the
Herring Gulls.

FLIGHT.  The bird did not flap as quickly as the
Herring Gulls, and when it did, the flaps looked both
shallower and flatter than the Herring Gulls -- the
tips did not move as much.  The flight did not seem to
quite have the... grace... that one usually associates
with gulls, and I will have to concur with Sibley's
description of "lumbering" for the flight.

PLUMAGE.  After size, the first things that I noticed
when I looked at the bird were the dark colors -- and
the high contrasts.  The primaries were very dark,
almost black.  The head, broad rump and body were all
whitish with some light streaking, with the exception
of a very dark and narrow terminal tail band.  The
secondaries were lighter than the primaries.  The
coverts and mantles were patterned in what I would
have to call a three color salt and pepper -- mostly
medium brown and white, with some darkish worked in. 
The contrasts between these were high, much more so
than in juvenile Herring Gulls, that seem to be mainly
various shades of brown on the coverts and mantle.

Unfortunately, the bird does not appear to like
hanging out around the breakwaters, nor was it flying
around over the lake.  It seemed to only come out to
fish the waters stirred up by the big ship, but other
than that my best guess is that it is hanging out
somewhere on the bay side of the points, or possibly
even by the ore docks.  I couldn't find it again.

Dan Amerman
Duluth, MN 


		
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