[MDOsprey] KELP GULL - 9/1 (yes)
Greg Miller (hawk-owl@yahoo.com)
Wed, 1 Sep 1999 18:51:17 -0700 (PDT)
Howdy All!
I needed a Kelp Gull fix tonight. So after work I buzzed up to
Sandgates. The Sea Breeze was slammed tonight with almost no parking.
I parked near the road and walked over to the main pier behind the
restaurant, but only found 6 adult Great Black-backed, 4 Herring, and 2
Ring-billed, and 23 Laughing Gulls. On the smaller pier just downriver
(roughly East) of the restaurant were 1 Ring-billed, 1 Herring, 8
Laughing, and yes, 1 contented KELP GULL preening its feathers. This
was my 9th trip to see the Kelp Gull (not like Jane Kostenko who's got
about 100 trips in!).
I'm batting 5 for 9. This is not too good compared to others' numbers,
but most of my visits have been 5-minute brief stops to see the gull
and note any possible changes and/or behavior characteristics. (after
all, how often does one get the chance to observe a Kelp Gull in North
America over time?)
Tonight, the feathers were so ruffled that it was impossible to compare
with my previous sightings. It still maintains a darker-than-GBBG
mantle (IMHO) and as Jane noted a few days ago, the bright red orbital
ring and gonies are still very obvious. I don't know if it was the
evening sun or what, but the gull's legs looked like they were a warmer
yellow than before.
At any rate, it was fun to view the bird again and reminisce about that
cold day in February when I got a frantic call from Jane about a rare
gull at Sandgates. I was there in 15 minutes, pleasantly freezing,
warmed with adrenaline on the inside. A dozen other birders shared the
moment...
-Greg Miller
Hollywood, MD
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