To whoever might find this useful: I tabulated all of the helpful links that people submitted to the MD Osprey over the last couple of weeks and posted them all together on my website. This way folks can take advantage of a central staging area for looking at Slaty-backed and Kelp Gull photos and articles on the internet. I hope this helps. The link is http://www.nrac.wvu.edu/users/jbc/gull.html I have not personally been able to see either bird although I will try for the Kelp Gull this weekend if it is obliging. I missed the Slaty backed just prior to a rainstorm one Friday and again had to leave too early on Valentines Sunday. From looking at the photos and watching the Large Gulls video, I share some of the concerns about the Slaty-backed. I have no real opinion about the mantle color (the gulls video birds look kind of pale too). The white trailing edge on the secondaries appears short in some pictures but seem pretty good in others (esp. photos 4, 6, and 10 where the edge is quite long esp towards the outer ? secondaries (those close to the body)). Marshall Illiffs statement about individual variation satisfied me until Dave Czaplak said today that hybridization is a potential problem (and when is it not with these darn gulls ?). That gets further into the ID process than I am yet ready to be. When you figure it out lemme know. I can't count it til I see it anyway. Rick Blom, (if you're reading this), do you have any idea what that mystery gull is at Conowingo yet ??? Your description of it made me think it was the same bird that I asked you to look at on Sunday (2/14) that I thought might have been a young Thayers. Again, when you figure it out ... ====================================================== ___ _________/ \_________ Home (304) 292-5072 /- - - - - O O - - - - -\ Work (304) 293-6253 \________'\_v_/`________/ ext. 4456 /_|_|_\ ^ ^ John B. Churchill, M.S. GIS Analyst West Virginia University Natural Resources Analysis Center __ ______ \___/ \__^_ [ ) o\ `__]____)'--'* ]_ ]_ Support Evolution, ... destroy a weakling ! http://www.nrac.wvu.edu/users/jbc/ ======================================================