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From: edm@vrdxhq.verdix.com (Ed Matthews)
Newsgroups: rec.birds
Subject: Re: Mystery Gull
Message-ID: <47553@vrdxhq.verdix.com>
Date: 1 Mar 91 14:31:12 GMT
References: <17098@milton.u.washington.edu>
Reply-To: edm@vrdxhq.UUCP (Ed Matthews)
Organization: Verdix Corporation HQ
Lines: 27

Kathleen Hunt writes in response to my post:
*It was here that I saw the mystery gull.  It attracted my attention by
*being whiter than all the Ring-Billed Gulls that it was with.  It was the
*same size as a Ring-Bill and of the same basic shape, especially the tail.
*The tail feathers were all white.  The bill was dark; I did not see the
*eye.  The wings were really different and reminded me of Tern's wings.
*The leading half of the wing was gray, the trailing half white.  There was
*a line of black on the tips of the primaries running about two thirds of
*the length of the wing.  The bird was bigger than a Bonaparte's Gull, but
*it is the gull whose wings seem most similar in my mind, but they were 
*equally white and gray and the black streak was much longer. 
 
>Immature Black-Legged Kittiwake?  Tail sounds wrong for an immature, though,
>and the bill sounds wrong for an adult. 
>Common Black-Headed Gull?  Wings sound wrong, though.

The bird I saw was too big and had a tail that was absolutely wrong for a
Kittiwake.  There was a Common Black-Headed Gull in the group with the
mystery gull for easy comparison: it wasn't that either.  I'm stumped.  I
have no idea what it was, but have a sketch in my logs in case someone
documents something similar in the future.  I would venture a guess at a
weird Bonaparte's adult plumage, but the size of the bird was wrong.
-- 

Ed Matthews                                                edm@verdix.com
Verdix Corporation Headquarters                            (703) 378-7600
Chantilly, Virginia