Date: Tue, 18 Mar 2003 15:15:51 -0800 Reply-To: Maryland Birds & Birding Sender: Maryland Birds & Birding From: steven siegel Subject: Can someone help me with Shrimpie? MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii On Saturday, March 15, I drove to the Seabreeze Restaurant to see if "Shrimpie" might be there. There was a dark-mantled gull on the dock, larger than the ring-bills. It had almost no white on the primary tips when it flew. It had a black mark on the beak, and therefore seemed to be a sub-adult. The legs were pink. It was not a great black-backed, and the mantle was darker than I am used to seeing on a lesser. Unfortunately, the four-year-old photo in the restaurant said that this bird wasn't Shrimpie. After a superb lunch, another bird had appeared on the dock. It was a bit larger, but not huge as I would expect of a great black-backed. There was considerable white on the primary tips, just like a GBBG. The bird had pinkish legs (at certain angles they got a little greener, but it was a stretch!), and had a dark mark on the upper mandible above an orange gonydeal spot, so unless Shrimpie is getting younger, it wasn't him either. My question is, has a western or slaty-backed popped up here? When was Shrimpie last definitively seen? Steve Siegel Miami, FL __________________________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? Yahoo! Platinum - Watch CBS' NCAA March Madness, live on your desktop! http://platinum.yahoo.com ======================================================================= To leave the MDOsprey list, send e-mail to listserv@home.ease.lsoft.com with the following message in line 1: signoff mdosprey ======================================================================= =========================================================================