I met Sue Heath and Laura Catterton this morning to look for the reported
GLAUCOUS GULL at the Prince William County landfill. We
were not disappointed (except for awhile anyway).
When we got there, there was a huge flock of gulls perusing the delicacies that
abounded in their midst. The good thing about it
was, we were able to stay upwind!
After scanning the area for 1/2 hour or so, Sue and I took a warmup break in
the car (Laura Eskimo declined). As we were discussing
how frustrating it is to ID any members of the gull genus (I think Sue said
something like "I hate gulls"), all of a sudden, I
caught a glimpse of a very light bird on a distant pile of dirt. The object of
our search had been found.
Excited and relieved, I decided to try to get a photo of it. By the time I set
up the camera, as Murphy's Law would dictate, the
bird rose up and exploded in flight with a whole array of other gulls. Most
fortunately, Sue and Laura were able to see where he
went. He landed on another dirt pile very nearby. Eventually, I was able to
approach within 30 feet and take a number of closeup
shots. In spite of all the machinery noise and disturbance, the bird was very
docile.
As noted in previous reports, the bird is a juvenile. According to what is
described in both National Geographic, as well as Sibley,
the bird appears to be a 1st winter bird. It is typically whitish-colored
throughout (as opposed to the darker juvenile that Sibley
shows), has an all-black bill tip, and in particular, the iris is all-dark
(although on close examination of one photo, I can see a
slight tinge of very-dark-yellow starting to immerge). Although I am certainly
not an expert on gulls, this is my assessment. I
would welcome any other input on this point (as I recall, the previous reports
were of a 2nd winter bird, and that may be so - or
there could be 2 different birds - it's very tough to find 1 bird amongst so
many thousands). Regardless of age, it is simply a
juvenile, but most importantly, it is definitely a GLAUCOUS.
As we were concentrating on the GLAUCOUS, we didn't see any THAYER'S or
ICELAND'S today (it was just too darned cold to continue),
but we did find a few LESSER BLACK-BACKED (don't know exactly how many, but
more than 1).
MOST IMPORTANT: To anyone going to look for this bird, DO call ahead. While
Kurt and I got in rather easily last Sunday, during the
week, they prefer to have you call ahead and they will have someone escort you
to the "work face" (the truck traffic is VERY busy).
As Sue listed last week, the number is: 703-791-6666.
In spite of the Minnesota weather, we had a great day.
Jon Little
Winchester
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