Glaucous-winged Safari

Juneau's waterfront was pretty alive with large white-headed gulls.  My last Glaucous-winged Gull was at Tiscornia 10 (!) years ago, so I tried to get a cross-section of the Glaucous-winged's.  There were smaller numbers of Herrings around, and some birds (next post) that I thought were probably GW x Herring hybrids.

I didn't see many juveniles, I suspect they were probably mostly still on the breeding grounds.  This very fresh looking young bird looked to be one however.

This would appear to be a first summer bird.  It still has a very dark bill but is getting a few gray feathers in the mantle.  The wings are a mix of dark (probably fresh) and light (very worn) feathers.

Here is a very similar bird in flight, though this one is starting to get more light at the base of the bill

3rd year plumage is one of the toughest to photograph since each year culls out a few more birds from the herd, but after that age they all look basically the same.  I didn't get a conclusive shot of that age class.

Next up is a sub-adult bird, probably 4 years old

The slight brown tinge and blurry definition of the primaries (and the shading on the tail) are the only things keeping this bird from adult plumage.

Finally an adult.  I actually deleted this photo reflexively when I saw the out of focus bird cutting across in flight, but decided I kind of liked it and pulled it back out of the trash.

 Another adult.

And one last look at a mass of fairly con-colorous primaries and mantles.