Cal gull refound by jeff shenot at 12:25 pm; our group of 5 was given permission to enter landfill by very friendly gate attendant. 
 
Stan arnold 
 
 
 
 
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-----Original Message----- 
From:         Bill Hubick <> 
Date:         Sat, 24 Oct 2009 20:49:26  
To: <> 
Subject: [MDOSPREY] California Gull at Salisbury Landfill (Long) 
 
Hi Everyone, 
 
Today I joined Jim Brighton, Ron Gutberlet, John Hubbell, and Dan Small for a great day of birding on the Eastern Shore. Our original plan was to bird Somerset all day, but we decided at the last minute that we couldn't resist trying for the HUDSONIAN GODWIT at Blackwater.   
 
We started the birding day at Shorters Wharf Road just before dawn. The road was quite flooded, with Dunlin and both yellowlegs in the road, spotted via headlights. A Great Horned Owl was silhouetted in a snag out on the marsh. On the drive out, John and I stopped for a sparrow and were very surprised to see it was a sharp-tailed. John hit his high-beams to get more detail and we could clearly tell it was a NELSON'S SPARROW. It fed on the side of the road for a few moments before flying back into the marsh. I feel pretty good calling it a nominate Nelson's. We enjoyed a very active dawn, which included four LONG-BILLED DOWITCHERs, 175 Green-winged Teal, 15 Blue-winged Teal, and many yellowlegs, mostly Greaters. 
 
We soon felt the draw of the HUDSONIAN GODWIT, and headed toward Blackwater on Key Wallace Drive. We stopped for just a moment to confirm that the AMERICAN WHITE PELICAN still continues at its favorite spot. We found the HUDSONIAN without trouble where it was previously reported. As we leveled our scopes, it didn't take long to pick out a second HUDSONIAN. We studied them at length. One was an adult with traces of brick coloration on its belly. It was molting its upperpart feathers and primaries. The second bird appeared to be a juvenile, and had neat, finely patterned upperparts with white feather edgings.  
 
From Blackwater we decided to head to the Salisbury Landfill in hopes of rare gulls. We checked in with the gate operator and received a pleasant welcome. Soon we were in place watching a swarm of well over 3,000 gulls. The majority were Laughing Gulls (1500++), followed by Herring Gulls (1000++), followed by Ring-billed. The Ring-billed Gull numbers were nearly all hatch-year birds. Most striking was the fact that several appeared to be in very fresh juvenal plumage. They looked like the first arrivals on Assateague back in August! The majority were well on their way to traditional first-winter plumage, though. There were only about eight Great Black-backed Gulls, but we continued to pick out different aged LESSER BLACK-BACKED GULLs. We felt comfortable counting at least nine Lessers. 
 
OK, here's the exciting part. As we're scanning the swarm of birds, I suddenly come across a bird that I first took to be generally Ring-billed-like in size and structure. But something was diff... Oh! I got a jolt of adrenaline, blurt something out, and make Mikey hurry to my scope. As we all start to get on it, we have just moments to take down details. It was smaller than the surrounding Herrings and with a much darker mantle. It had messy, dark-colored scapulars, dark coverts, and a strongly, cleanly bicolored bill. The black tip did not extend to the biting edge and the basal end was pink. The primaries were all black. With no warning it flies off, and we all follow it. We are immediately struck by its clean, bright white rump and very solid, extensive black tail. Its upperparts were quite dark and it showed only a bit of a window in its flight feathers. All of this would make it a 1st cycle bird molting into 2nd winter plumage. We know it strongly 
 supports California, but can we confidently rule out starting-2nd-cycle Herring? We crack open field guides seeking confirmation and struggle to decide what to do. We settle on waiting for it to return from its visit to the pond. Much time passes as we scope the gulls in the rain, and we get discouraged as we start to get excited over the occasional 2nd cycle Herring Gull. Is this...ugh... no... How about... nah.... Did we really see what we think we did? Suddenly Mikey is excited about a candidate, and we agree it is the same bird. I run for Big Lens and get back as it is flying off. We see the bright white rump again, but it doesn't immediately seem quite as gleaming as before. I manage to fire off a couple dozen shots, handheld 600mm with 1.4 converter, in the rain, against an overcast sky (i.e., ridiculous). The photos could only be awful.   
 
So to make a long story long, we spent over four hours at the landfill hoping for the confirming looks and photos we wanted. We were joined by Mike Walsh who helped us keep the vigil. We repeatedly asked each other what our guts said about the sighting. Each of us struggled with the internal battle of counting such a difficult bird without longer looks or confirming photos. It felt right, but could we be 100% certain without documentation?  We left after 3:00 p.m. and split up between Dorchester and Wicomico Counties. We forgot about the bad photos on Big Lens.  
 
Jim and Dan Small birded Elliott Island, while John, Mike, Ron, and I worked the Nanticoke River in Wicomico.  
 
Fast forward to evening at Jim Brighton's house. We're hanging out discussing the good day and of course start talking about the gull. We get out Olsen/Larsson and Howell/Dunn. Again we get frustrated at how tough the call is, and how right our bird seemed. Finally I sigh and say something like, "Well, let's look at these crappy photos." As I zoom in, I'm surprised to see some details preserved. They show a dark-mantled, long-billed, long-winged gull with a contrasting, bright white rump and extensive, solid black tail. Best of all, the window in its flight feathers is barely there. We know this is about as good as it gets, and I had to struggle to not get too excited.  
 
There's only one thing to do - send 'em to Hafner for a sanity check. We don't have a card reader for my camera here, so Jim takes macro shots of my LCD with his point-and-shoot and we send the photos of the photo to Matt. We were very excited and relieved to get a thumbs-up. Thanks as always for the invaluable sanity checks, Matt!      
 
OK, so tomorrow's Sunday, which means chasing will be tricky before Monday. If you go, there is a large pond beside the landfill where the gulls like to loaf and bathe. The new road between the landfill and the pond is closed, but it seems like you can park on the main road and walk to the edge of the large pit. Use your best judgment here and of course exercise total caution. By all means don't climb down to the pond edge. You will need a scope to view anything well here. Normal landfill operations will resume on Monday, and as always, please be on your very best behavior when visiting the Salisbury Landfill. They are very good to us, and this is our last great landfill in terms of accessibility. Always check in with the gate attendant in a friendly and polite manner, letting them know you want to go birdwatching and look at the gulls. When you drive in, you will go left (small pond on your left), and then park WELL off the road when you can see the 
 gull swarm over the fresh trash. Do NOT drive all the way up to the activity where people are dumping trash. View from a distance. All the usual disclaimers apply. If they ask you to move, do so immediately and with a thank you. This place is awesome and should give us Maryland's first confirmed Slaty-back this winter. :) 
 
Whew. Sorry for the long message, but I'm still very psyched. We'll post the poor but diagnostic documentation probably Monday night.  
 
Good birding!! 
 
Bill 
 
Bill Hubick 
Pasadena, Maryland 
 
http://www.billhubick.com