Herring Gull

I called this bird an immature Herring Gull. I found it on 27 January 2021 at KGY Point, which sticks out into Budd Bay in the Olympia Harbor. The bill is not very swollen at the tip, the back is coarsely checkered, abd the dark wing tips are faintly white-tipped. Just as I was thinking that gulls are not impossible to identify, Bill Tweit raised his eye brows at the pale-brown color of the folded secondary feathers. Most, but not all, Herring Gulls have darker brown secondaries. Bill suggested that this bird may be a hybrid Herring x Glaucous-winged gull, known as the Cook Inlet Gull. The hybrid’s head should be stripped. Since I am not sure I can see that field mark, I am content to call this bird a Herring Gull.