Ring-billed Gull
Gull #1 for the Gulls Class of 2024: What species and age is this gull and why? Taken today at Cedar Point Lake Buchanan.
Gull #1: I found this one very interesting. Initially it seems straight forward Ring bill. But on 2nd look we see quite a dark eye which points to either another species (e.g. California or Iceland gull) or a sub-adult gull.
The ring on the bill makes this a ring bill, but if you look carefully you see that the ring is not completely vertical to the bottom of the bill – the 2 halves of the ring don’t match up. Compare the flying bird to the fully adult ring bill in the 3rd pix. This points to a late sub-adult gull – or more precisely a 3rd cycle gull (I believe) and by spring a full adult I presume.
Next thing to notice is there are few “apical spots” – white spots in the black wingtips, and they are small. Another point towards sub-adult.
Finally, if you zoom in close on the tail there appears to be several faint and small smudges of dark coloration – another point for late sub-adult gull.
