Seven of us from Montgomery County, Md, went to the Fauquier landfill
yesterday. Both the weather and the birds were very cooperative. Best bird
was an ICELAND GULL, probably a 1st winter bird, right at the pale end of the
scale. The bill had a fairly extensive pale base, with a dark outer half and
with dark reaching back along the cutting edges. The eye was dark and there
was some remnant distinct barring on the inner wing coverts. I haven't seen
the bird that's been at the PW landfill this winter so don't know whether this
is the same one.
We also had 4 adult and one first winter Lesser Black-backed Gulls. All in
all there were around 1200 gulls there in total - more than 2/3 of which were
Ring-billed, with around 20 or so Greater Black-backs and American Herring
making up the rest.
Regards
Clive Harris
Cabin John
