22 FEB 04 . Lee Highway Bristol, VA . Volunteer Parkway Bristol, TN This morning, near 10:30, Wallace Coffey banded the first Ring-billed Gull in Southwest Virginia to the best of our knowledge. The gull was trapped using the Launched Avian Restraint Utility System (L.A.R.U.S.) prototype as referenced in the Bristol Herald Courier news paper on Friday 20 FEB 04. Bristol, Virginia Super Wal-Mart, I-81 exit 7, parking lot is where the banding took place as 100 or more Ringed-billed Gulls congregated and responded quickly to our bait. This success was followed by a second gull banded in Bristol, Tennessee on the Volunteer Parkway Food Lion parking lot. This was also a first for the region as far as we know. Project: L.A.R.U.S. was initiated in hopes to have a banded bird recovered after spring migration in order to establish a migratory path for our regional overwintering gulls. 'Til we bird again Rack Cross Blountville, TN ************************************************* BRISTOL BIRDS NET LIST This is a regional birding list sponsored by the Bristol Bird Club to facilitate communications between birders and bird clubs of Southwest Virginia and Northeast Tennessee. It serves the Russell County Bird Club, Herndon TOS Chapter, Blue Ridge Birders Club, Butternut Nature Club, Buchanan County Bird Club, Bristol Bird Club, Clinch Valley Bird Club and Cumberland Nature Club. -------------------------------------------------- You are subscribed to Bristol-Birds. To post to this mailing list, simply send an email to: bristol-birds@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx To unsubscribe, send an email to bristol-birds-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx with the one word 'unsubscribe' in the Subject field. -------------------------------------------------- Wallace Coffey, Moderator wallace@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx (423)764-****