Common Gull Identification Issues

Norm Saunders (osprey@ARI.Net)
Thu, 12 Feb 1998 04:21:01 -0500


I'm enjoying the give and take on the Common Gull issue enormously. 
Many of us saw this bird but did not see the field marks which some 
are saying are diagnostic.  Those who are pronouncing are basing that 
on photographs taken by Mark Hoffman and possibly by others and on 
videotape taken by Bob Ringler, and possibly by others.

Those of us who were not privileged to participate in those 
discussions are somewhat left in the dark.  If Mark or anyone else 
can provide (on a loan basis) a few good prints of the bird in 
question, we could scan them in and make them available at the 
MDOsprey website for a period of time to allow everyone here to join 
more fully in the discussion AND in the learning experience.

Making pictures of puzzling birds available on the Internet is 
becoming a more and more widely used approach to eliciting comments 
from a broader audience.  See the Frontiers of Bird Identification 
listserv.  We clearly have some extremely accomplished birders here 
in Maryland, but there may be birders in Europe, or on the West 
Coast, say, who may have had direct experience with the type of bird 
that was seen at Conowingo Dam.

What better way to elicit comments than to post the pictures on the 
Internet?  Of course, if comments aren't desired......

Norm Saunders


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Norm Saunders
Colesville, MD
osprey@ari.net