Glaucous gull at Patuxent

Craig E Tumer (ogrtskua@Juno.com)
Sun, 3 Jan 1999 16:19:15 -0500


Hi all!

Today I travelled to the Patuxent Wildlife Research Center to look for
the assortment of gulls that was reported there yesterday.  I arrived
there just after 11:00.  There were approximately 500 gulls when I
arrived, and a steady stream of gulls was continuously arriving and
departing throughout the time I was there (about an hour).  Soon after
arriving I spotted a 1st winter lesser black-backed gull (but no glaucous
or Iceland gulls) among the other, more common species.  I went inside to
check out the gift shop, and when I returned, almost immediately, I
spotted a first winter glaucous gull bathing at the edge of the ice (I
new something good would show up if I left!).  I got excellent views of
this gull for about 10 to 15 minutes before something (probably an eagle)
spooked the flock of gulls into flight.  A few gulls returned to rest on
the ice, but not the glaucous.

What a cozy place to set up a scope and study gulls!

Craig Tumer
OgrtSkua@juno.com
Washington, DC

___________________________________________________________________
You don't need to buy Internet access to use free Internet e-mail.
Get completely free e-mail from Juno at http://www.juno.com/getjuno.html
or call Juno at (800) 654-JUNO [654-5866]