Date: Tue, 12 Nov 2002 08:39:31 -0500 Reply-To: Maryland Birds & Birding Sender: Maryland Birds & Birding From: "Harvey, David A." Subject: Strange Gull MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" Sunday, 11-10-02 while birding E.A. Vaughn WMA in Worcestor county I drove down Truits Landing Rd (I think that is the name) and saw a gull perched on the posts out to the left of the end of the road. At first I thought it was a Herring Gull, but, I decided to put a scope on it and was shocked to note that it had two Gonys spots, black and red. Wow, a California Gull. Wrong, on this bird the red gonys was closer to the tip of the bill than the black. All books I have checked, Peterson, National Geo., and Sibley, show the black closer to the tip than the red. Also, this bird had a yellow iris. The wing tips looked just like a Herring Gull as did the mantle. I could not see the legs to determine their color. There was flecking on the head and throat. Any thoughts to this bird other than just a hybrid and if it is a hybrid, what kind of mix could it be? Thanks for any thoughts. Dave Harvey ======================================================================= To leave the MDOsprey list, send e-mail to listserv@home.ease.lsoft.com with the following message in line 1: signoff mdosprey ======================================================================= =========================================================================