Date: Tue, 13 Jun 2000 12:33:41 -0400 Reply-To: Maryland Birds & Birding Sender: Maryland Birds & Birding From: Jane Kostenko Subject: Kelp Gull (YES), St. Mary's County, MD, Update June 13, 2000 Comments: To: zelig88@aol.com, voice@CapAccess.org, staff@narba.org, Paul Baicich , pabirds@list.audubon.org, md-smas-general@list.audubon.org, marvadel , birder@xtrabox.com, birdchat@listserv.arizona.edu, armas@wittnet.com MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: multipart/mixed; boundary="=_ALTIGENCOMMUINCATIONS12664" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit --=_ALTIGENCOMMUINCATIONS12664 CONTENT-TYPE: TEXT/PLAIN; charset="iso-8859-1" CONTENT-TRANSFER-ENCODING: 7BIT After a long absence, the Kelp Gull is back at the Sea Breeze Restaurant in Sandgates, Maryland, as of this morning, June 13, 2000. A 10:45 a.m. phone call today at work from one of the staffers of the restaurant had me out the door and at the restaurant shortly after 11 a.m. (I quote, "Yeah, Jane, that foolish bird of yours is here.") The Kelp Gull is showing wear on its feather edges, but everything important was still there: very dark mantle (though contrasting nicely in today's diffuse light with the black primaries), yellowish-green legs, clear yellow iris, bright orange/red orbital, orange/red gonys spot with slight "wash" of red on upper mandible, gape very far back so that it is almost under the eye, and even the single mirror on P10-- which I saw when it stretched its right wing. Sweet! I thanked Joe for calling, and he verified that the gull comes every so often these days, but not daily. It was last seen in early and mid-March, then not in April at all except for a brief sighting on April 25 by the restaurant staff (which I found out about after the fact). Though Tyler Bell and I were gone most of May (Attu), I heard of no reports that the gull was seen (I welcome any reports, positive or negative, from March-May.) Today's cool weather may encourage it to linger (it's 30 degrees cooler today than on Saturday, June 10, when Tyler and I tried to it!), so I'm optimistic that it might be getting back to what it did last year when it left for most of March and April, started coming; by summer, it was usually around daily again. Jane Kostenko jane_kostenko@co.saint-marys.md.us California, Maryland Yesterday is history. Tomorrow is a mystery. Today is a gift; that's why they call it the PRESENT. --=_ALTIGENCOMMUINCATIONS12664-- ======================================================================= To leave the MDOsprey list, send e-mail to listserv@home.ease.lsoft.com with the following message in line 1: signoff mdosprey ======================================================================= =========================================================================