Date: Tue, 12 Nov 2002 12:24:52 -0500 Reply-To: Maryland Birds & Birding Sender: Maryland Birds & Birding From: Walter Ellison Subject: Re: Strange Gull MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Hi Dave, I have a rather mundane suggestion for your gull. If it looked like a Herring Gull in all other respects save the bill pattern it was likely a fourth year Herring Gull that had not lost all of its residual subterminal black smudging as it replaces it with the adult red. Such birds often have a little residual brown flecking in the wing coverts and some trace of brown/blackish in the tail. However these traces are frequently hard to see without looking quite carefully. Black-tailed Gull seems unlikely based on your overall description as that is a smaller bird, with a quite dark upper back, a different bill shape, and an easily observed well-demarcated black tail-band (as the name suggests). I hope these comments prove helpful. Good Birding, Walter Ellison MD-DC Atlas Coordinator - MOS 23460 Clarissa Road Chestertown, MD 21620 phone: 410-778-9568 e-mail: rossgull@crosslink.net "A person who is looking for something doesn't travel very fast" - E. B. White (in "Stuart Little") ----- Original Message ----- From: "Harvey, David A." To: Sent: Tuesday, November 12, 2002 8:39 AM Subject: [MDOSPREY] Strange Gull > 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 > ======================================================================= > ======================================================================= To leave the MDOsprey list, send e-mail to listserv@home.ease.lsoft.com with the following message in line 1: signoff mdosprey ======================================================================= =========================================================================