IDs? Ages? #1

[Arthur Morris]

Nickerson Beach, Long Island, NY. August 25, 2011.

[Dan Brown]

My best guess - second cycle Lesser Black-backed on the left and second cycle Great Black-backed on the right. The Great BB seems a no-brainer! huge bill and checkered mantle! The smaller bird has the combo of mantle/breast contrast, eye and leg color for LBGU.

[Paul Guris]

Off the top of my head, I agree with Dan on ID though I think calling the Great Black-backed "second cycle" might be just barely correct.

The Lesser (on the left) appears to be leaving its old "first summer" plumage and heading for second winter, so the term "second cycle" fits. The brownish feathers with the white markings look worn to ****, meaning that they are old, retained feathers. The dark gray feathers look fresh and new, and are proper for second winter. The bird also shows a black bill with a tiny yellow tip that is common on second winter birds. We obviously can't see the tail feathers, but this bird should be sporting a really obvious white tail with a bold black tail band by early winter.

I think the Great Black-backed is also just over a year old but hasn't advanced its molt quite as quickly. It's quite blurry so studying the state of the feather wear is out, but here's what I think I can see. It's not a juvenile since juv. Great Black-backeds are pretty stylin' with their sharp checkerboard pattern, plus you'd expect the bill to be all black rather than two-toned. The reason that I'm hesitant to use the term "second cycle", particularly without being able to clearly see the feathers, is that the bird appears to be retaining most/all of it's older feathers from the summer and doesn't appear to have moved into its next molt yet. Closer inspection might allow us to see that it actually has started its molt but none of the obvious darker mantle feathers we'd expect to see in the winter have appeared yet. So I suspect that this bird is right near the cusp (either side) of entering its second cycle and heavy molt will soon be coming its way.

[Arthur Morris]

Thanks both. I am old school. I would call the lesser a second summer and the great a worn juvenile.

[Paul Guris]

Artie, you and me both. I'm trying to keep up with the multiple nomenclatures out there, but I think my head is going to explode before I figure it all out. I guess I just don't learn as fast as I did 30 years ago!

[Arthur Morris]

You and I can stick to the old guy's way!

[Paul Guris]

You and I can stick to the old guy's way!

I just got a lesson in age at the company picnic. They ran a kickball tournament for fun, and I realized that it had been more years since I had played kickball than half the people on my team had been alive! With the way I still feel a week later, I figure in another decade or so I'll be trying to figure out how to put a scope/camera mount on my walker! :t3

[Arthur Morris]

Been there, done that....