[obol] Seaside Gulls and recent birds.

[David C. Bailey]

Thanks Jeff,

On the subject of gulls, if you are looking for something reminiscent of 
Pellet Plant days on SI, check out Wireless Rd. between Warrenton and 
Astoria. There are about 1000 gulls there now. I did a run through after 
getting some work on my car in Warrenton on Thursday and found 4 imm. 
GLAUCOUS GULLS, and several GLAUCOUS HYBRIDS. I was looking for 
Slaty-backed and Vega type Gulls, but did not see anything that fit the 
bill for those in my quick bins-only run. Additionally, the Seaside Cove 
is hosting several hundred Gulls including GLAUCOUS , HERRING, and 
THAYER'S as is the Necanicum Estuary and end of Ave. I along the 
Necanicum River (end of my block), so there's a full half-day or more of 
gull watching to be found in Clatsop County.

Last week a ROCK SANDPIPER was with over 70 SURFBIRDS at The Cove, 3 
LONG-TAILED DUCKS were just offshore, and a female BARROW'S GOLDENEYE 
was with COMMONS in the Necanicum River at 12 Avenue bridge. A week ago 
Friday a Herring Gull was feasting on a freshly wrecked HORNED PUFFIN at 
the cove sucking down intestine like it was sauced spaghetti. Now the 
gulls are working a sea lion carcass in addtion to the plentiful chum 
that tourists and locals bring them each day at The Cove.

The Necanicum Estuary continues to be a favorite foraging area for 
THAYER'S GULL, especially the pools on the east side of Gearhart Spit 
(accessed from parking area at the south end of Wellington in Gearhart).

All three scoters are around the area and today I saw a single breeding 
plumage COMMON MURRE from The Cove.

In sum, there is plenty of birding along the N. Coast and much of it you 
can do from the comfort of a car during the rain showers. The nice thing 
is that there are breaks in the rain on the immediate coast every 15-30 
minutes where the sun will often come out and birding is suddenly 
becomes a respite from the dreariness of winter.

A walk through Seaside will produce dicky bird flocks including 
Townsend's Warblers and Zonotrichia Sparrows and who knows what else.

Come on down.

Doogers cooks seafood extremely well too.

David

David C. Bailey
Seaside, Oregon
baileydc at pdx.edu

Jeff Gilligan wrote:

>Good summary.   Jeff.
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>On 3/2/07 1:56 AM, "David Bailey" <baileydc at pdx.edu> wrote:
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>>Russ Namitz pretty much well summarized the key points as to why
>>"John's" gull is not a Slaty-backed. Slaty-backed shows a much paler eye
>>(more white, less amber) and shows blotchy, spot-like brownish-gray
>>markings to the head that do not show barring or feathering and do not
>>terminate in a rather contrasting hood. The bill would look straighter
>>sided as mentioned. The mantle would be at least a shade and a half (OK,
>>I know there is no such thing, but for lack of a better descriptor)
>>darker--dusky-gray rather than blue-gray. The outer primaries
>>(wing-tips) would show white tips to the internal tongue-tips that in
>>relationship to the each other would show the characteristic
>>"string-of-pearls" subterminal white band to the black wingtips. This is
>>not depicted in the photos posted by Greg, but would be seen in the
>>spread wing of the bird. John mentioned that the wing-tips where similar
>>to the Western Gulls. In a standing with wings folded pose, this is
>>probably mostly the case. In Western x Glaucous-winged hybrids there is
>>a "string-of-pearls," so beware, and also apparently in Vega Gulls this
>>feature is present--though those birds would be paler-mantled than
>>Western Gull. The legs and feet in Slaty-backed tend to be hot pink
>>rather than dull pink, but this is one of the least reliable features
>>(also true in Thayer's Gull). Russ mentioned the "pirates patch" of dark
>>around the eye (I believe it was Mr. Gilson who coined this phrase back
>>in the wonderful days of rotting cookies at the Sauvie Island Pellet
>>Plant) which should be obvious on an adult or third-winter Slaty-backed.
>>
>>Hope this helps.
>>
>>Happy Gulling,
>>
>>And, if you have read this far, a question for the lariphiles out there:
>>Do our typical Herring Gulls show more than one mirror to the primaries,
>>or is a single large "moon" on P10 typical with the other primaries
>>showing only white tips?
>>
>>David
>>
>>David C. Bailey
>>Seaside, Oregon
>>
>>baileydc at pdx.edu
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