Greetings,
The reason I wrote 6 or 7 species is that I think I might have seen a
*possible* MEW GULL this afternoon at the Prince William Co. Landfill. Yeah,
right! I know it sounds very dubious, but here's the story. Last Sat., I
birded the landfill for about two hours and decided to study the gulls about
15 to 20 feet in front of me. That way I could really get some detail just in
case. I was panning around with the scope, looking at Ring-billed Gulls, when
I spotted a *Ring-billed* with a dark eye. Thinking it was just the lighting,
I went on to look at the bill and my first thoughts were...what a dainty,
petite bill..and look, there's no black ring on the bill, just a faint smudge
where the ring should be. My thoughts turned to Mew Gull (in my dreams!) so I
looked at the eye and no matter which way the bird turned, the eye remained
dark. The other Ringers around it clearly had pale eyes. This bird had dark
brownish eyes with a hint of a red orbital ring. The bill was a good strong
yellow and didn't have the slight gonydeal angle that a Ringer has. The brown
streaking/spotting on the nape was very noticeable. As far as the mantle
color goes, I didn't notice that it was darker than the Ringers, but I've
read that in certain light the gray color can be similar. At that time, I
didn't know to look for the long primary projection. The leg color was a
shade of yellow not quite as bold as nearby Ringers. I debated about posting
this sighting on Sat...I'm sure you can understand why.
I went back to the landfill today, in hopes that I could refind the bird..how
realistic is that? By some miracle, I did find it..it was foraging on the
gravel road up to the top of the landfill! I only saw it briefly, two times,
as trash trucks were coming up...bad timing! The one field mark that I
clearly observed today was the long primary extension compared to the
Ringers. I didn't get a clear picture of the tertial crescent or the wing
spots in those moments.
The gull numbers are way down from Sat. I estimate about 800 today (half of
Sat. #) with mostly Herring, Ring-billed, Laughing Gull (1), Lesser
Black-backed (3), Great Black-backed (only 1) and a first winter ICELAND
Gull.
Right after I saw the Iceland Gull, the right lens of my binoculars was
assaulted with gull droppings. It was a bull's eye and I ran to the car to
get the lens wipes. With all the hours I spend at the landfill, it was bound
to happen eventually.
I hope you didn't chuckle too much after reading my report, but I figured why
not report what I saw, just in case someone else can get out to look for the
possible Mew Gull.
Laura Catterton
Manassas, Virginia
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