Date: Wed, 19 Mar 2003 09:30:53 -0500 Reply-To: Maryland Birds & Birding Sender: Maryland Birds & Birding From: Tyler Bell Subject: Re: Can someone help me with Shrimpy? Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable Content-Disposition: inline Steve et al.: There have been a couple of replies so far but I thought I'd throw in my = $0.02 worth. Over the 4 years since Shrimpy was identified as a Kelp Gull, = there have been a number of Great Black-backed Gulls there that have = fooled people, myself included (I've learned a lot about gulls since = then!). They are smaller than normal GBBGs and are about Herring Gull = size. They sometimes have yellowish legs, sometimes pinkish legs. They = have a black ring on the bill indicating a subadult, almost assuredly = third winter. If you happen to see one of these birds with yellowish legs = and small size, you might be tempted to call it the KEGU but the black = bill ring excludes Shrimpy. The mantle color of Slaty-backed Gull and Western Gull (wymani subspecies = being darker than occidentalis) does not, in my opinion, approach the = darkness of either GBBG or KEGU. Seems like there was a recent article on = gray scales of gull mantles in Birding that showed KEGU and Yellow-footed = Gull as being the darkest on the scale. Anyway, there have been no reports = of Western Gull in MD and there is one report of Slaty-backed Gull from = Conowingo Dam from 1999. Patty Craig was the last person to see Shrimpy on March 10. Typically, = Shrimpy gets wanderlust in March. Back in 1999, March 1 was the first day = that Shrimpy was not seen at all to the dismay of many a travelling = birder. In the years since then, March is a crapshoot and the chances of = seeing the KEGU from March until summer is pretty slim. Once fall rolls = around and especially winter, the chances go up to nearly 100%. KEGU is a 4 year bird. When Patty found it during the winter of 97/98, it = was a full adult. Add 5 years since and Shrimpy is at least 9 years old. I = don't know any stats on longevity of KEGU but that may be beyond the = average? Who knows how much longer s/he'll be around. Hope my ranting is of some use! Tyler Bell bell@acnatsci.org California, Maryland Wave that flag...wave it wide and high! Grateful Dead, U.S. Blues >>> oporornis@YAHOO.COM 03/18/03 06:15PM >>> 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=20 =3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D= =3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D= =3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D To leave the MDOsprey list, send e-mail to listserv@home.ease.lsoft.com=20 with the following message in line 1: signoff mdosprey =3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D= =3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D= =3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D =3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D To leave the MDOsprey list, send e-mail to listserv@home.ease.lsoft.com with the following message in line 1: signoff mdosprey =3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D =========================================================================