[MDOsprey] White gulls in August

Dave Mozurkewich (dm@fornax.usno.navy.mil)
Mon, 16 Aug 1999 16:30:27 -0400 (EDT)


Has anyone else seen the white juvenal Laughing Gull hanging around
Maryland's southern eastern shore?

Its tail band and primaries are a warm brown, which I will describe as the
color of a coffee stain.  Its folded primaries are fairly dark but I saw
no hint of black pigment.  The underparts and back are white.  The upper
wing coverts are a warm brown, similar to the tail band, but light enough
to pass for white with a quick look.

The bird had pink legs and a pink bill.  It gave me the impression of a
dark (right) eye, but I was not close enough to be sure I could see the
iris.  I did not look at its left eye. 

The bird was loafing with a large flock of regular Laughing Gulls at the
E.A. Vaughn WMA pond, late afternoon, Friday, August 13, 1999.  I am
basing the identification on the bird's size and bill shape which match
the Laughing Gulls in the flock and its age on the presence of a tail
band. 

Quite a pretty bird.  Too bad it wasn't a quick look at a distant fly-by; 
no telling what I would have called it. 

Dave

David Mozurkewich
Seabrook, MD  USA
dm@fornax.usno.navy.mil