My wife and I birded Dorey Park this morning. Early, not much could be seen
in the cool, cloudy weather. Later, it really started to rain, so we headed
back towards home. We'd seen many gulls flying over, but we were unable to
get close views. As we drove back to Darbytown Road from the pond at Dorey
Park, we found a very large flock of gulls on the grass West of the road.
Most were Laughing Gulls. There were also a couple brown immatures, likely
Herring Gulls, and other white-headed type gulls. Then, I noticed one gull
that was a bit different. It had more black on the head than the
winter-plumaged Laughings, and it had a distinctive, though fairly narrow,
black strip on the top and bottom of the tail, near but not at the end. It
also had a clear white stripe at the end of the secondaries. It seemed to
have a shorter bill and rounder head than the Laughing Gulls also.
Otherwise, the bird looked similar to other 1st winter gulls.
You can get to Dorey Park fairly easily from I-295 by taking the Highway 5
exit (New Market Road) West a short distance, turning left on Doran road,
then heading North for a while to Darbytown Road. Turn left on Darbytown
(west) and travel a short distance. The Park entrance, complete with sign,
is on the left. As the gulls are highly mobile, it's difficult to tell where
they'll be, though it seemed they really enjoyed the green grass on the west
of the road (right side as you enter, perhaps halfway from entrance to end
of the road/pond.)
This is my first posting to VA birds. I'm a recent move-in from Utah, where
Franklin's Gulls aren't too rare. For me, the Laughing Gulls are neat! Good
birding.
Joshua D. Kreitzer
Sandston, VA
