Sunday, May 4, 2008

More details on the gull



Well, here's some more details on the gull. The first pic is a blow-up of one of the original pics, it shows the details of the bill and is my best of the orbital ring. The orbital ring appeared reddish in the field though it was hard to be sure in the overcast with the dark eye. Interestingly the camera picked up a much pinker lavender type color


Next is a blow-up of the best spread-wing showing P10-P5 as well as a new pic showing P9-P2 and my description of these feathers copied from my MBRC write-up:


P10: leading edge a darker gray than rest of bird, terminal centimeter or so long white spot covering both trailing and leading edge
P9: leading edge contrasts slightly with trailing edge though not as dark as the on P10 with small white mirror visible on leading edge prior to small white tip of both leading and trailing edge
P8: some darker contrast most prominent on the proximal aspect of the leading edge, white tip slightly broader than P9, no mirror visible though does have a white “moon” or “pearl” on trailing edge
P7: similar to P8 with some darker contrast on leading edge but a slightly smaller white tip and likely a somewhat larger white “moon” or “pearl” on trailing edge
P6: less contrasting leading edge than higher numbered primaries with white tip slightly broader than P7 with more white on leading edge. White “moon” or “pearl” crosses from trailing edge onto leading edge as well bisected by darker shaft
P5: leading edge minimally contrasting. Broad white tip blends more suffusely into gray color of body of feather. Single ovular vague gray opacities on both leading and trailing edge in the white
P4-P2: gray feathers with white tips. Some contrast to leading edge of feathers though this may be related to light and different angle of feather barbs

Now the task is to go through the books and read about the different hybrid combinations' wing patterns.

No comments: