Hybrid Gulls and Freaks ~ California ~ Feb' 15

Thursday 26 March 2015

Hybridisation occurs between two separate species when the breeding range overlaps and the resulting offspring show traits of mixed parentage ..

Three of the species that winter on the west coast of California are Glaucous-winged, American Herring and Western all hydridise, and add to that a couple of other crosses like GWG x Slaty-backed or GWG x Glaucous and the identification of pure birds just got much more difficult ...

The following birds are all presumed hybrids, due to odd features for pure birds. 


Glaucous-winged x American Herring


GWG x AHG ~ Venice Beach, Half Moon Bay - 16.02.15

Slaty not black primaries
Restricted dark to outer primaries
Mirror only to P10
No dark mark on P5
Bulbous tip to bill
Diffused head & neck streaking


 Glaucous-winged x American Herring

GWG x AHG ~ Venice Beach, Half Moon Bay - 19.02.15

Slaty not black primaries
Diffused head & neck streaking


Glaucous-winged x American Herring


GWG x AHG ~ Venice Beach, Half Moon Bay - 19.02.15


Primaries dark brown
Tertials edged with white notches
Bill & head shape
Covert markings


Glaucous-winged x Western

GWG x WES ~ Salmon Creek - 17.02.15

GWG type barring to head and neck
Slaty black primaries
Bulbous bill



American Herring x Western

AHG x WES ~ Venice Beach, Half Moon Bay - 19.02.15

Dark iris
Bulbous tipped bill
Diffused head and neck streaking
Mantle shade 


American Herring x Western

AHG x WES ~ Venice Beach, Half Moon Bay - 16.02.15


Small rounded head shape
Diffused head and neck streaking
Slightly bulbous tipped bill
Mantle shade


American Herring x Western


AHG x WES ~ Alice Keck Park, Santa Barbara - 21.02.15


This is a freaky looking bird ..
Odd banding through tail and secondaries
Body shape suggests AHG 
Overall markings suggests mixed genes.

Pure, hybrids & freaks ...
I enjoy them all ..






1 comment:

Jonathan Lethbridge said...

I opened this post as the freaks title suggested there would be a photo of the three of you. Disappointed.