Brian Monk wrote: >>> [snip] Namely, where did this gull come from? [snip] If it is a true vagrant, then "Yee Haw!!!" and I'll be the first to tick it on my life-list. >>> Brian raises some interesting questions. As for the bird's true identity, aren't DNA analysis or collecting or both the only ways to answer the question with any certainty? (I note that no one has mentioned collecting yet - I hope this never happens...) As for origin, no certainty is possible in the absence of an eyewitness! As for countability, allow me to throw in my two cents as a non-lister. The bird's already on my "life list" - which is NOT an ABA list. I prefer to find birds in the wild and record some of my observations, the sum of which form for me a "sort of" life list. To me, a "lifer" is a bird I've studied and could identify again. I've seen Band-rumped Storm Petrel off North Carolina on four trips, but never really got to know the species until the fourth trip. So, although I'd seen plenty in the past, I didn't consider it a "lifer" until then. (And call me a heretic, but I consider Monk Parakeet a lifer after seeing the wild, breeding population at Rehobeth!) The Kelp Gull I've studied well, and studied the literature available to me, and have concluded it's probably what Michael O'Brien says it is. Even if DNA analysis, if ever done, shows it to be a hybrid or strange LBBG variant, it will stay on my "books" as the closest to a Kelp Gull I've ever seen, or will probably ever see until I get to Chile or other parts south. Thanks, Brian, for the provocative questions. You got me to reflect a bit on why I look at birds! Tom Stock Silver Spring