After dropping off my wife this morning in Towson for jury duty I birded my  
way home slowly. First stop was at Loch Raven, where most waterfowl were gone, 
 but good numbers of PIED-BILLED and HORNED GREBES and breeding-plumaged 
COMMON  LOONS were present. There were still 8 REDHEADS just above the first dam, 
along  with 3 AMERICAN WIGEON, 7 RING-NECKED DUCKS, 1 LESSER SCAUP and a few  
BUFFLEHEAD, plus a pair of WOOD DUCKS below the dam. From there I made a  
perfunctory check at Cromwell Valley for the N. Shrike, but found only EASTERN  
BLUEBIRDS, PHOEBES and CHIPPING SPARROWS among the regulars.
 
Based on yesterday's report from Wilde Lake in Columbia I decided to take a  
detour there for a possible Herring Gull or BC Night-Heron, either one of  
which would be my 200th Howard County life bird. I walked up to the shore  and 
immediately spotted an adult HERRING GULL in flight -- mission accomplished.  
But then one, then two BONAPARTE'S GULLS flew by -- number 201. Toward the north 
 end of the lake I could see a larger congregation of gulls on a manmade 
concrete  island. Among the RING-BILLED GULLS and DC CORMORANTS was another 
Herring Gull,  and swimming toward the island, what appeared to be a first-cycle 
Great  Black-backed Gull with a fish in its mouth.
 
As soon as the GBBG emerged from the water it got into a confrontation with  
the HEGU. Several things struck me -- it was indistinguishable in size from  
the HEGU, its bill was dark but no bigger than a HEGU's, and it gave up its 
meal  readily and swam away. Having no camera I spent some time studying this 
bird and  determined to make a drawing when I got home. It was very pale and 
worn-looking  overall. The mantle was whitish with crisp black scalloping. The 
head, neck and  underparts were dirty white, virtually unmarked, while the wing 
coverts were  nearly white with faint pale brown markings. The outer primaries 
were dark  brown, the inner primaries very pale and translucent from below. 
The tail had a  narrow, fairly solid mottled dark brown band which faded into 
lighter mottling  toward the base. The bill was dark gray, lighter at the base 
and nearly black  where the gonys spot would be. Unfortunately the gull soon 
took off, circled the  south end of the lake and disappeared, and did not return 
while I was  there.
 
After making the sketch and consulting Sibley and Olsen & Larsson I can  only 
conclude that this was probably a very worn, very petite first- or  
second-cyle GREAT BLACK-BACKED GULL. Although it looked much like the  picture of the 
1st summer Vega Gull on page 217 of Sibley, and also had some  characteristics 
of European Herring Gull, the narrow tail band seems to  rule out any form of 
Herring Gull. Any comments would be appreciated.
 
Joel Martin
Catonsville, MD
 (mailto:[log in to unmask]) 



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