Two New Gulls: October 4, 2022

Short-billed Gull is one of those birds that have recently changed their names.  It used to be called Mew Gull, and in fact, a person we met on the shore of the Esquimalt Lagoon, called it just that.  He mentioned there were five different gulls at the end of the lagoon.  I could name about three, he added the other two, using the old name.  It was split from the Common Gull, a European species, in 2021.

 I think that the immature in the background is a Short-billed as well but there are no guarantees on that.

The other new gull that day was the Glaucous-winged Gull.  Glaucous referring to the light grey colour of its wings.  This gull, you will notice, does not have the dark wing tips over the tail that so many gulls have.

The bill on this gull is much bigger than on the above bird.  As well it has pink legs, in common with the Herring Gull, but the Herring Gull has black wing tips.  Also worth noting is the red dot on the lower mandible.  Gulls are not much fun to ID so the more notable points, the better.

And no, that bird in the foreground is not an immature gull.  Looks a lot like a crow to me.