From south-bay-birds-bounces+south-bay-birds-archive=[[email protected]] Wed Jan 14 19:40:35 2004 Received: from www.plaidworks.com (localhost [127.0.0.1]) by plaidworks.com (8.12.9/8.12.9) with ESMTP id i0F3cN2m026751 for <[[email protected]]>; Wed, 14 Jan 2004 19:38:23 -0800 (PST) Received: from goose.mail.pas.earthlink.net (goose.mail.pas.earthlink.net [207.217.120.18]) by plaidworks.com (8.12.9/8.12.9) with ESMTP id i0F3bA1l026682 for <[[email protected]]>; Wed, 14 Jan 2004 19:37:10 -0800 (PST) Received: from user-1121ehc.dsl.mindspring.com ([66.32.186.44] helo=pavilion.earthlink.net) by goose.mail.pas.earthlink.net with esmtp (Exim 3.33 #1) id 1AgyJh-00022v-00 for [[email protected]]; Wed, 14 Jan 2004 19:37:09 -0800 Message-Id: <[[email protected]]> X-Mailer: QUALCOMM Windows Eudora Version 5.2.1 Date: Wed, 14 Jan 2004 19:42:10 -0800 To: [[email protected]] From: Bill Bousman <[[email protected]]> Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"; format=flowed Subject: [SBB] Lesser Black-backed Gull (Sunnyvale WPCP ponds) X-BeenThere: [[email protected]] X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.2+ Precedence: list List-Id: South Bay Birding List-Unsubscribe: , List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , Sender: south-bay-birds-bounces+south-bay-birds-archive=[[email protected]] Errors-To: south-bay-birds-bounces+south-bay-birds-archive=[[email protected]] Folks: This morning, 1/14/2004, I made a half-loop of the western or large pond at the Sunnyvale WPCP ponds, starting from the hill west of the parking area and then going alongside the Lockheed Martin ponds, out by A3W, then crossing over by the central part and returning on the south side of the west pond. A few gulls, probably less than 70 all told were scattered along the levee near the SE corner, most were Herring Gulls. I picked up a dark-mantled gull about 10:50 am and I got a decent look with my binoculars for a few seconds and the bird flew. I had some less adequate flight views and the dark-backed gull went east over Salt Pond A4 towards Alviso. The bill was noticeably slender, as with a Thayer's, but was black with a yellow tip to the upper mandible. The head was streaked, about as heavily as some of the darker Herring's, but there wasn't a concentration of darker streaking near the eye. The mantle was one or two shades darker than our _occidentalis_ Western Gull and there was extensive brown in the wing (I thought the coverts, but not a good view). The tail had some black in it, but not enough to be called a band. Most of these characteristics match a 2nd-winter LESSER BLACK-BACKED GULL. Unfortunately, my brief looks are probably not sufficient to pass the CBRC review, but I'll give it a try. I missed eye and leg color, and my description is just too sketchy to provide really important details on the wings and tail. Interestingly, the photo that Mike Rogers took of the Lake Cunningham bird that is on Joe Morlan's website (lower photo, not upper one) is a better match for this bird than Sibley's painting. But Grant notes that both bill color and tail banding are variable at this age. So where will this bird go? Has it reached Stockton yet? Or is it stuffing its face at the Newby Island fast food joint. More important, where will it roost tonight? With the thousands of Herring Gulls near the Alviso salt ponds or the 50 or so at Sunnyvale? Tomorrow will tell, perhaps. The only other birds of interest were two RED-BREASTED MERGANSERS on Salt Pond A2W. Bill _______________________________________________ Do not post admin requests to the list. They will be ignored. south-bay-birds mailing list ([[email protected]]) Help/Unsubscribe/Update your Subscription: http://www.plaidworks.com/mailman/options/south-bay-birds/south-bay-birds-archive%40plaidworks.com This email sent to [[email protected]]