The sex of Shrimpy is unknown. Some of us prefer to think it as a she.
If you look at photos of the Kelp Gull that showed up in Colorado
recently, it has a honking bill and looks gargantuan compared to
Shrimpy. In comparison, one would say that the CO bird was a male, and
Shrimpy is a female. Of course, the only way to sex the bird accurately
would be to have the bird in hand. I'm no expert but I think that it has
to be during a certain time of year to determine this as well.

Tyler Bell

California, MD

-----Original Message-----
From:  
Sent: Monday, January 31, 2005 11:46 AM
To: ; 
Subject: Re: [MDOSPREY] Kelp Gull timing

How does one determine the sex of a gull?

At 09:04 AM 1/31/2005, you wrote:
>Leo, et al.:
>
>Shrimpy shows up whenever she pleases. Sometimes the gull flock arrives
at
>the Seabreeze fairly early in the morning. Sometimes Shrimpy arrives
solo
>when there are few other gulls around. The trick is to not be there at
the
>crack of dawn and not too near late afternoon. Other than that, it's a
crap
>shoot!
>
>Please note that Shrimpy is getting old. Since she's at least 11 years
old,
>if you haven't seen her yet, time is ticking. Plus, by the end of
February,
>she starts to wander and the chance of seeing the gull drops from
almost
>100% to about 50%. Later in the warmer months, it drops even more.
>
>This Saturday is the Patuxent River Waterfowl Survey coordinated by Jug
Bay
>and Shrimpy has been accounted for each year since its inception. The
count
>runs from 7:30 to 10:30. An extra set of eyes to ID Shrimpy during the
count
>would be nice.
>
>Tyler Bell
>
>California, MD