August 2024 Monthly Notables

Sightings:

• Ivory Gull (2 adults). Baffin County, Nunavut. 04 August 2024.
• Short-billed Gull (juvenile). San Mateo County, California. 07 August 2024.
• Black-headed Gull (adult). Washington County, Utah. 10 August 2024.
• 1ST STATE RECORD.
• Little Gull (2nd cycle). Teton County, Montana. 10 August 2024. 
• 6th State Record. 
• Short-billed Gull (adult). Larimer County, Colorado. 11 August 2024.
• California Gull (2nd cycle). Galveston County, Texas. 14 August 2024.
• Little Gull (juvenile). Carbon County, Montana. 18 August 2024.
• 7th(?) State Record.
• Little Gull (juvenile). Pierce County, Washington. 20 August 2024.
• Gray Gull (4th cycle type). Escambia County, Florida. 24 August 2024.
• Presumably, the 1st ABA individual found in the summer of 2023. 
• Yellow-footed Gull (4th cycle). Clark County, Nevada. 30 August 2024.
• Presumably a returning individual, first found in March 2022 as a 1st cycle.
• Slaty-backed Gull (adult). Petersburg Borough, Alaska. 24 August 2024.
• Heermann's Gull (6th cycle/adult). Dare County, North Carolina. 26 August 2024.
• Atlantic Coast bird lingering here since June.
• Ross's Gull (juvenile). Gambell, Alaska. 30 August 2024.

Notes: 

1. Sadly, Yellow-footed Gull numbers continue to "sink" at the Salton Sea. Luke Tiller and others reported very low numbers this summer with August seeing mostly singletons. A high count of 6 was reported by Ethan Matsuyama on 07 August 2024. Receding water levels and a lack of fish are to blame. 

2. "The" Gray Gull is back! Last seen in Alabama in April 2024, this time it was found just a smidgen east of the Alabama/Florida state line in Perdido Key. Where this bird spent the last four months is a mystery. It's sporting a basic head pattern with most secondaries retained (3rd basic), showing worn tips and reduced white. p1-p7 have been renewed (4th basic), p8 dropped and p9-p10 are old (3rd basic). It'll be very exciting to see what this bird does from here on out. 

3. Jens Wikström and others photographed a juvenile Ross's Gull from a ship off Svalbard on 20 August 2024. Although not in North America, it's included here because photos of juvenile Ross's Gulls with brown necks and brown mantle feathers are extremely rare! Then incidentally, another 1st cycle Ross's Gull was seen off the Gambell Seawatch on 30 August 2024 showing a similar neck and back pattern, but with noticeable formative feathers already grown in. 

August 2024 Quiz

 

June. New York.

Age: Both individuals are molting mid-outer primaries. These are one-year olds in their 2nd molt cycle (undergoing their 2nd prebasic molt).

The new inner primaries are 2nd generation (2nd basic) and the retained outer primaries are juvenile (1st basic). Both individuals have retained juvenile secondaries, and the individual on the right has retained juvenile tail feathers (which hold an important pattern used for identification).  

Identification: Notice the largely black bill on the individual on the left. This is a larger bird with massive bill, bull-neck and blocky head. The solid dark upperparts and whitish body point directly to Great Black-backed, which it is. The paler individual on the right with black bill tip and silvery scapulars is a typical American Herring, as suggested by the dark tail base.