Nelle Lyons and I saw this bird the other day at Kirby Park, in the marshy area between the road and the train tracks. Sorry for the super crappy photos.
Not confident in my identification of this bird. Took about 40 pictures at quite a distance, through heat distortion, and spent a long time analyzing and comparing. iPhone AI mostly suggested phalarope, but size seems way too big, especially in relation to black-necked stilt (tail area also seems wrong for phalarope, and Nelle said definitely a gull of some kind). My best hypothesis is Bonaparte's gull, based on cheek patch, pink legs, size, black bill, though bill seems long for a Bonaparte's. I'm also not sure of what seems to be a white patch on the wing, but wing/tail area seems very gull-like. This bird was foraging in a very plover/shorebird-y way along the edges of the marsh, all alone.
Anyone have thoughts?[image: DSCN0896.jpeg][image: DSCN0920.jpeg][image: DSCN0877.jpeg]
