[SBB] dark seagull at SWPCP

[[[email protected]] (Bill Maney)]

Seen 1:30pm, Monday october 3.
On the bird levee in the east (red radar tower) pond there was a very
dark seagull, sitting with a large group of pintails and shovellers. 
Its entire back, neck and head were dull charcoal and the primaries were
black with distinctly light tips (not quite white).  The undertail
feathers were white.  The tail feathers were dark, but may have had
lighter edges (or just shiny), and remained hidden under the wings
mostly.  It had dingy yellow legs and bill except for a  red and black
lower mandible mark.  The eye was dark.  I didn't get a great
comparision but I think it was bigger than the ring-bills.  The forehead
was sloped and my impression was that it's head and beak were long.
It was preening continuously.
Since I couldn't find anything like it in my National Geograpic guide I
thought it might be interesting to the group.  I'd appreciate any advice
on what this bird is.  Is there an opposite to albino?

Also seen:
Green Heron
Bufflehead
Herring gull
Red-necked Pharalope (+AH4-2 dozen)

Also, a burrowing owl.  Within the treatment plant, on the way to A4
there are two that appear to live in borrows on the levee, just inside
the fence.  A bold ground squirrel ran right in front of one owl.

Thanks,
Bill Maney 
Sunnyvale

Patricia Kenny wrote:
> 
> This morning Roland Kenner and I saw a BLACKPOLL WARBLER just past the
> parking lot in the fennel patch on the left side of the trail as you walk
> out to the East/West Ponds at the Sunnyvale Water Pollution Control Plant.
> The bird appeared to be a first winter bird.  It was olive on the head and
> back; yellow on the face, throat, and upper breast; white on the undertail
> coverts.  It had coarse streaking on the back and on the sides.  It had two
> prominent white wing-bars (the lower wing-bar had a slight yellow tint).
> The primaries were white-tipped and the tertials had broad white edges.
> There was a dark line through the eye. The bill was black on top, but the
> lower mandible appeared paler, yellowish.  The bird was actively feeding in
> the fennel when we first saw it around 8:30.  It was still there when we
> passed that area around 10:30.
> 
> Other notable birds were a BLUE-WINGED TEAL in the slough near the Lockheed
> Ponds and several AMERICAN PIPITS in the mud at the edge of the Lockheed
> Ponds.
> 
> Take care.
> Pat Kenny
> 
> 
> 
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