Re: Gulls, gulls and more gulls

Norm Saunders (osprey@ARI.Net)
Tue, 17 Feb 1998 18:38:05 -0500


Kathy Klimkiewicz writes:

>      That could be a possibility but an even greater one is that
>      everyone wasn't necessarily looking at the same individual with
>      so many other gulls in the area.

I second that notion, Kathy!  The morning Fran and I were at 
Conowingo, we had the bird pointed out to us...and we watched it and 
watched it...then after about ten minutes, another bird came 
along...and the word went out...no, wait...THIS is the right 
one!...and we watched it and watched it...and (you guessed it) after 
about another 10 minutes the cry went out again...forget that last 
one, here is the real deal!

Sigh...while it was truly an uplifting experience to see three 
first-winter Common Gulls in one morning, it certainly did nothing 
for our life lists nor our confidence in our own abilities to make 
difficult identifications!  

I loved Mark Hoffman's objective assessment of the photographs and 
visual sightings he had of the bird and look forward to seeing some 
photographs of the bird!  I've learned a lot and, maybe, I'll have a 
better idea of what to look for the next time a squadron of Common 
Gulls visits Harford County!  In the meantime...scratch one life 
bird.

Are you SURE you weren't at the dam that same morning?????  Grin...

Cheers,
Norm

===============
Norm Saunders
Colesville, MD
osprey@ari.net