seabird above Hilo Bay?

[bananahead]

the myth that Hawaii doesnt have Gulls is all WRONG!!!!!

There is a chance it could be a seagull, we do get occasional Ring Billed Gulls, Glaucous Gulls (pure white), Glaucous Winged Gulls, and Laughing Gulls, ... we just dont have a real permanent population of them because they wont breed here, they just sometime hit Hawaii in migration...

Laysan Albatross (Hawaiian name is Moli) 98% of breading population live in Northern Hawaiian Islands ie Midway etc. (but they live all over ie Mexico Japan etc.), the wings do have black along the FRONT edge but also along the back edge as well... and they are closest thing to a giant seagull we have IMO.

Red Footed Boobies (smallest Booby) (Hawaiian name is 'a) have black along the BACK edge of wings and on tips, the rest is white, and will have a long straight pointy bluish bill with orange-red flipper feet (cant see feet when flying well)

Masked Boobies (Hawaiian name is 'a) will have a black area around the eyes, back 1/2 of wings are black, and a long pointy bill thats yellowish-green in color, and their feet are a bluish gray green

Wedge Tailed Shearwaters (Hawaiian name is ua'u kani), from the bottom may look mostly light colored and do have black along the FRONT of the wing edge, they also have a bend in wing when in flight and do look like 'seagulls' more than a Booby... but not nearly as big as the Laysan Albatross

Tropicbirds are small with long tails, we have 2 kine a red tailed one and a white tailed one (seen at Kilauea Crater and 'The Great Crack" area often)
Hawaiian Petrels are smaller than a Gull, and if youre lucky to see one it will be on Mauna Loa

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save our indigenous and endemic Hawaiian Plants... learn about them, grow them, and plant them on your property, ....instead of all that invasive non-native garbage I see in most yards... aloha

[imwithstoopid]

Could it have been a Frigatebird?

Eschew Obfuscation.....

“Just think of how stupid the average person is, and then realize half of them are even stupider!”
R.I.P G.Carlin

[csgray]

I know what frigate birds look like, their shape is different.

Carol

[Obie]

I found this explanation

In explaining why Hawaii has no gulls, another Hawaii author writes that gulls are scavengers of shallow waters. Since the Hawaiian Islands are mostly mountaintops with no coastal shelf, they do not provide the kind of coastal food gulls prefer.

Another bird specialist reports in his book on Hawaii's seabirds that gulls are primarily a Northern Hemisphere group, and few are truly oceanic. He speculates that gulls are unable to take advantage of Hawaii's available food sources.

Although none of the world's 47 gull species breed in Hawaii, several routinely get here, either propelled by storm winds, as hitchhikers on ships or under their own wing power. Some annual visiting gull species are laughing, ring-billed, glaucous-winged, herring, Bonaparte's and Franklin's gulls.

Hawaii's limited mud flats and wetlands attract these lone wanderers, and they occasionally stay for months. Most, however, disappear after a few days, and none raise families here.