Stolen!

Looks like we could still be in for a mess over the next few days -

I hate it when people complain about the difference between rain and snow in our area... The Great Lakes have these little thermoclines that make it VERY difficult to predict exactly what areas will get rain/freezing rain or snow in these locations. The weather people have been 100% correct for DAYS that we will be getting a moisture-laden storm in our area at this time... If it's such a big freakin deal for you, why don't you learn a bit about the weather and try to make your own forecast about exactly when and were snow will fall from the sky!

(rant over)

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Anyone want to guess what I'm working on?

Similar Species:

Herring Gull – As detailed above, I believe leucisim can be ruled out, and this is truly a “white-winged” gull. The structure of the bill and the GISS is wrong for Herring Gull. The short primary projection is wrong for Herring Gull.

Iceland Gull – the bird is much too large for an Iceland Gull. The primary projection is too short. The structure of the bill/head is wrong for ICGU. While the tail pattern can match many 1st cycle Kumlein’s Gulls, it would be unusual to rare in 2nd cycle birds.

Thayer’s Gull – the primary projection is too short for this species. I believe it may be too large to be reasonably considered possible for THGU. The bill structure may well be fully beyond the size/structure for this species. I believe the bill colour/pattern and overall plumage could possibly be shown by a 1st cycle THGU, but would be very unusual/rare for a 2nd cycle to look anything like this, even when heavily bleached.

Glaucous Gull – the structure of the bird is wrong for GLGU. The bill pattern is too muddy for this species (would be more sharply defined). The tail pattern is wrong for GLGU. The eye should be pale for a 2nd cycle Glaucous.

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Anyone? Anyone? 

Circumstances:

Waterdown Garden Supplies: The location had major birding potential as a large amount of human food waste was dumped here, to be turned into compost through various processes. The company was not allowed to let any wastewater flow freely off the site, so the water table was remarkably high and several ponds and large areas of wet mud (with numerous puddles) occurred throughout the property. Overall this made it remarkable for gulls, and occasionally yielded decent shorebird numbers (as well as attracting unusual birds like waterfowl, Caspian Terns, herons, cranes and raptors to all the commotion). Essentially, it was exciting here year round – and was unfortunately not operating in this manner for very long; shut down completely for a period of time that fall.

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How about now? 

OBRC Report – Glaucous-winged Gull

Larus glaucescens 1 - second cycle (3rd calendar year)
Waterdown Garden Supplies, Hamilton, Ontario
July 3, 2009 (early and mid/late afternoon)

Optics: Vortex DLS 8x42 binoculars. Camera – Canon 1DM2n DSLR, 600mm F4 lens
All photographs of the bird have been sent separately from this file, some of which do not appear in this report.

*** This report was written in December 2013, detailing a bird found and photographed on July 3, 2009 and had remained unidentified until this time ***

(yes, this is happening)

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I stole this from a blog comment on Jeff Master's weather blog! -

180. nrtiwlnvragn 3:47 PM GMT on December 20, 2013 The Solstices, Equinoxes and Seasons Excerpt: The Earth makes a complete revolution around the sun once every 365 days, following an orbit that is elliptical in shape. This means that the distance between the Earth and Sun, which is 93 million miles on average, varies throughout the year. During the first week in January, the Earth is about 1.6 million miles closer to the sun. This is referred to as the perihelion. The aphelion, or the point at which the Earth is about 1.6 million miles farther away from the sun, occurs during the first week in July. This fact may sound counter to what we know about seasons in the Northern Hemisphere, but actually the difference is not significant in terms of climate and is NOT the reason why we have seasons. Seasons are caused by the fact that the Earth is tilted on its axis by 23.5°. The tilt's orientation with respect to space does not change during the year; thus, the Northen Hemisphere is tilted toward the sun in June and away from the sun in December, as illustrated in the graphic below.