[obol] Newport Elegant Terns, possible Hudsonian Godwit, No Lessaer Balck-backed Gull
- From: "Wayne Hoffman" <whoffman@xxxxxxxx>
- To: "OBOL" <obol@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Sat, 17 Aug 2013 20:36:23 -0700
Hi -
This evening I got a call from Tom Love at the Embarcadero Resort on
Newport's Bayfront. He was looking up the bay from there and on the
"concrete dock" upstream saw a large gull roost containing Elegant Terns and
a gull that looked like a Lesser Blackback, although he was not able to see
yellow legs.
I drove out past the Embarcadero to a pulloff overlooking the newly rebuilt
Newport International Terminal, where I could get a closer look at the
flock. The flock included several hundred California Gulls, 50+ Western
Gulls, and several Glaucous-winged Gulls.
The Elegant Tern numbers built from an initial 7 birds to 40+. They were
roosting in a tight group near the middle of the gull flock. This is
slightly farther up the bay than they were seen last weekend.
On the far side of the flock was a single largish shorebird, standing with
its bill tucked between its wings. It was very dark-colored, slightly less
so on the underparts. Legs were dark - more or less lead-colored.
Eventually it raised its head twice, very briefly, then re-tucked it. The
bill was quite slender, slightly upturned, and more than twice the length of
the head. It appeared dark in the relatively poor light (I could not see a
reddish base). It appeared too slender for a Willet's bill, and the overall
shape of the bird was not quite right for Willet.
Wayne
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