FWIW, I'm seeing a bunch of eBird reports for juvenile Herring Gulls in
Idaho lately so I thought I'd comment. This is extremely early for
juveniles in this area (or any other age). All the photos I've looked at
are of juvenile California Gulls. They look much like juv HEGUs but
they're smaller, lack the pale window in the inner primaries, and they
have a more attenuated look with long primary extension. The bill is
black and gradually gets pale as they age - I've seen some in December
that still have a mostly black bill rather than the sharply bicolored
bill typically shown in field guides. Just wanted to make everyone aware
of this ID pitfall.
Cliff
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Cliff and Lisa Weisse
Island Park, Idaho
<cliffandlisa...>
