used in the species descriptions
 juv. Thayer's Gull; photo by Don DesJardin |
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juv. Thayer's Gull; photo by Don DesJardin |
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| A-spots | apical spots; the white spots at the tips of the outermost primaries on adult birds |
| adult gray | the gray across the back and upper wings of adult birds, see the shades of mantle gray page |
| aur edge | the area just beyond the rear edge of the auricular patch |
| aur | auriculars |
| covs | coverts |
| GCs | greater coverts |
| g-b | the gray-brown color on immature gulls (e.g., the freckling on the breast of the bird above); this may vary from sooty gray on Western Gulls to pale coffee on Iceland Gulls |
| gon | gonydeal, in reference to the angle on the lower mandible or the orange-red spot near it on adult birds |
| greater coverts | unless otherwise specified, the upper secondary greater coverts, visible on the standing bird |
| L&M covs | median and lesser coverts |
| median and lesser coverts | unless otherwise specified, the upper secondary median and lesser coverts, visible on the standing bird |
| Ps | primaries |
| P10, etc. | the tenth primary, using the numbering system where P10 is the outermost |
| Ss | secondaries |
| skirt | the white edge of the secondaries visible below the greater coverts on the adult standing bird |
| subterm | subterminal |
| wing extension | the extension of the primaries beyond the tip of the tail on the standing bird |
| x | times; for example, if the bill is 3x eye diameter, that means the bill, beginning at the culmen, is 3 times longer than the diameter of the bird's eye |