Date: Fri, 1 Dec 2000 01:10:01 EST Reply-To: Maryland Birds & Birding Sender: Maryland Birds & Birding From: Marshall Iliff Subject: SILVER GULL at Brown's Station Landfill, Maryland (long) Comments: To: georgearmistead@hotmail.com, brian_gibbons@juno.com, Paul Lehman , Christopher Wood , Wheatear1@aol.com, GreatGrayO@aol.com, HeraldPetrel@aol.com, cmmbirds@yahoo.com MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="US-ASCII" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Hi all, I spent most of today (11/30) searching various bodies of water for the American White Pelican that dropped into Schoolhouse Pond yesterday, as it would be a state bird for me. Although the bird was seen through 4:15 p.m. yesterday, and most probably roosted nearby, I failed to find it in my travels. At 2:00 p.m. I decided I'd had enough, got some Chinese carry-out, and went to Brown's Station Landfill to dine and watch some gulls. For a while one adult Lesser Black-backed was the only notable in sight but with some patient scanning I evenutally turned up a first-winter Thayer's Gull. This bird was fairly Herring-like in features, being on the large and dark end of the Thayer's scale. The primary pattern (broadly edged in white) was the first indicator of Thayer's, and at rest the bird also appeared very even and uniform in its pale tan coloration, unlike the paler-headed look typical of Herring. In flight, the primaries were quite pale, and pale inner webs could be seen. The tailband was also very pale brown in coloration. As it flew overhead it looked like a "white-winged gull". After the gull flock flushed I tried to follow the Thayer's while at the same time opening my trunk to get my camera. Not surprisingly, I lost track of the bird. I spent the next 15 minutes watching the gulls settle back down to try to photograph the Thayer's. The flock consisted of about 1500 birds (another 1000 were feeding elsewhere on the landfill), with about 40 Herring Gulls among an even split of Laughing and Ring-billeds. Eventually I spotted a sleeping bird, mostly blocked, that looked like a candidate for the Thayer's. I got out of my car and walked a bit closer, but when I checked the bird again from closer range, an adult SILVER GULL was standing next to it!! The other gull turned out to be a Herring anyways. I spent the next 5 minutes photographing the Silver Gull, before all the gulls flushed and I lost track of it (though I got some flight shots). After about 5 minutes of waiting most of the gulls settled back in and before long I spotted the Silver Gull standing on the near edge of the flock. The gulls were unwary, probably because of the high winds, and allowed me to approach within 15 feet of the near edge of the flock. The photos should be full-frame in excellent light. I left the bird where I found it at 3:25 p.m.. IDENTIFICATION Since Marylanders may be unfamiliar with Silver Gull (I saw thousands in Australia and New Zealand in July 1999), I have transcribed my description of today's bird below. Key features are size smaller than Laughing Gull, crimson bill, legs, and orbital ring, a starkly white eye, a mantle much paler than Ring-billed Gull, and a diagnostic wing pattern in flight which is reminiscent of Black-headed Gull when seen from below. From above Silver Gull has mostly black outer primaries with a white flash inside the black wedge. Two large white mirrors are obvious on the tenth and ninth (two outermost) primaries. At rest the primaries have obvious white tips (apical spots). **Note the difference between "mirrors" and "apical spots": apical spots are white TIPS to primaries while mirrors are circular/oval white spots separate from the tip (Herring Gull has both apical spots and mirros, while Laughing Gulls have only apical spots) Black-headed Gull might appear similar at rest but has a dark eye, lacks the obvious red orbital ring, has a black earspot, and lacks the white apical spots to the primaries. In flight, the mirrors of Silver Gull and extensive black on the uppersurface of the primaries eliminate Black-headed Gull, though the pattern is generally similar from below (look for the mirrors of Silver Gull though). ORIGIN The origin of this bird does not present much of a mystery to me: it is an escaped captive. I firmly believe that Maryland's Kelp Gull is an escapee and similarly refuse to believe that a Silver Gull, a nonmigratory gull from the opposite side of the globe, would be a natural vagrant. Furthermore, we have good evidence of their presence in captivity in the East and, especially, locally. See below for details... OTHER REPORTS I know of two reports of Silver Gull from surrounding states. Beardslee & Mitchell's 1965 _Birds of the Niagara Frontier Region_ lists a female first seen 17 Aug 1947, and collected 20 Aug 1947. The bird was fat, molting, and had enlarged ovaries which the authors took to be supportive of natural origin. Another bird was seen south of Wilmington, DE (Penn Manor?) and also in adjacent NJ (Pennsville?) for a winter or two in the mid-1990s. The only date I can find is a submission to the DE Records Committee for 13 Nov 1996, but I know the bird was seen longer than this and that there is a photo in _Field Notes_ (probably the Fall 1996 issue that I don't have handy). Perhaps Gene or someone else can shed some more light on this bird? MARYLAND REPORTS Last January there was some discussion of Silver Gull in response to a red-billed gull seen at Jug Bay (about 10 air miles from Brown's Station Landfill, and a well-known bathing spot for landfill gulls), that was not conclusively identified. It was first reported by Charlie Muise, Stan Arnold, and Lynnette Fullerton on 9 Jan and refound by Danny Bystrak 15 Jan. Details of eye color and wing pattern were not seen well, but the bird lacked a dark ear spot and Charlie Muise considered Silver Gull and Slender-billed Gull potential ID contenders. It was not refound and bird was left as a probable Black-headed Gull (Danny Bystrak had seen a definite 1t-winter Black-headed there 8 Jan 2000). It seems very likely to me that this is the same bird returning for another winter. Charlie sent a 20 Jan post asking about Silver Gull which prompted some interesting discussion. In a 21 Jan 2000 post Dave Czaplak wrote that in the mid-1980s _unbanded_ Silver Gulls were commonly kept in an open-air enclosure at the National Zoo in Washington, D.C.. On at least two occasions he reported seeing them among Ring-bills and Laughings at Haines Point, and once called the zoo about it: they were surprised that one was missing but apparently did not count their birds! Phil Davis chimed in to say that recent Records Committee research showed at least one Silver Gull still present at the National Zoo, and Rob Hilton reported seeing them there too. One additional sighting came to light during that period, when Phil Davis tracked down news of a SIlver Gull videotaped by Morris Lippencott at Scientist's Cliffs, Calvert County, sometime in the mid-1990s. I could not find anything about this in the M.O.S. archives, and perhaps Phil told me about it in a private communique. Phil, can you elaborate on this? Did the Records Committee get its hands on the tape and do we know the date and age of the bird? In a final note - has anyone had the misfortune to see Charlie's Angels? The gull that lit briefly on the Golden Gate (?) bridge in one of the car chase scenes was -- a SILVER GULL! Now where did Hollywood producers get their hands on one of those? Still, that was not the worst ornithological screw up in the movie (Sitta pygmaea indeed!). In any event, it is obvious that The National Zoo, at least, has been somewhat reckless with the care of their Silver Gulls. Gulls live quite a long time and even if the zoo has cleaned up their act, birds which escaped in the 1980s could still be roaming the mid-Atlantic. For these, and the other reasons listed above, I have no hope that this is a legitimate vagrant from Down Under. An interesting bird to see though. I was pleased since when I visited Oz last summer Silver Gulls were so abundant that I forgot to photograph them! This was my first photographed Silver Gull. Best, Marshall Iliff miliff@aol.com Ocean City, MD Description of Silver Gull at Brown's Station Landfill: "A small gull, significantly smaller than Ring-billed Gulls present and slightly smaller than Laughing Gulls in direct comparison. Probably comparable in size to Franklin's Gull. Slender gull with a light build, very round-headed and relatively long-legged compared to Laughing. Notably shorter-winged than Laughing Gull. Bill was slender and without a notable gonydeal angle, similar in structure to Black-headed Gull. The bill was brilliant crimson with an unsually long and thick gape that was also crimson. Eye color was a stark white color, with the black pupil giving a unique and somewhat eerie appearance. Orbital ring crimson like the bill, thick and obvious. Legs were crimson with somewhat duller webs. The bird wore no bands. The head was immaculate white without any streaking. The face, chin, nape, breast, and belly were similarly clean white. The mantle was pale gray, obviously much paler than the mantle of Ring-billed Gull in direct comparison and without any blue tones. I considered the mantle color similar to that of a winter-plumaged Forster's Tern. The mantle color was palest on the upper back near the nape and became gradually darker towards the rear of the wings. There was no scapular crescent and a very small white tertial crescent that barely contrasted with the back. The tail was white. At rest the primaries appeared wholly black with white tips, except that the outer web of the tenth primary was sometimes exposed and was mostly white towards the base. The white apical spots on the primaries decreased in size towards the wingtip, such that the white tip on p7 was about 3x as large as that on p10. The tenth primary was seen well at rest and was most bright white with a dark subterminal band occupying the outer 3 inches of the feather except for a small white tip. The primary tips showed only slight wear, as did the tertials. I did not see the wing pattern well in flight since I was photographing the bird when it was flying. It appeared to me that the outer two primaries were mostly white with a thick black subterminal band containing two large mirrors. The inner primaries were mostly blackish, but a large band of white bordered the proximal edge of the black wedge. On several occasions the bird squabbled with a Ring-billed Gull and gave a very low, hoarse, guttural call unlike the calls of Ring-billed or Laughing Gulls, which are much higher pitched. The Silver Gull was resting among the other gulls during the early part of my observation, but later was feeding in puddles along the edge of the flock. It fed by picking at pieces of trash lying on the puddle. On several occasions it craned its neck in an unusual S-curve posture quite unlike the posturing behaviors of Ring-billed or Laughing Gulls. I took several photos showing this unusual behavior." ======================================================================= To leave the MDOsprey list, send e-mail to listserv@home.ease.lsoft.com with the following message in line 1: signoff mdosprey ======================================================================= =========================================================================