Re: [MDOsprey] White gulls in August

leslie fisher (gonbrdn@dol.net)
Mon, 16 Aug 1999 21:39:52 -0400


Hi Dave:

Dave Mozurkewich wrote:

> 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.
>

Just wondered how good your imagination was!!
Leslie Fisher

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