>From Russell Rogers, Seattle WA, rrogers at halcyon.com

The dates that Larry McCloskey gave for the Ross's Gull sightings are the
one that I have understood as being correct. Yesterday, 11/29 a group of
eight birders from Seattle, including Mike Smith and myself, saw the bird
at about 9:00 AM. We first found the bird from the Washington side
floating in the river. It was roosting in the water and would drift down
stream until it got to the bridge and then would fly back up stream a
couple of 100 yards. It did this repeatedly for about an hour and a half.
We then went to the Oregon side of the river to an access point near the
end of the I-82 bridge. From there we go absolutely crippling views of
the bird. It preened in the water and on a small rocky island.

If anyone is thinking of going to look for this bird I reconmend it
highly. It is well worth the drive.

As for Larry's question about other Ross's Gull records in Washington,
there are no accepted records. As far as I know there is only one report,
from Diablo Lake, in the Ross Lake (hummm) area on 10/6/90. It may still
be under concideration by the records committee, but I don't know for
sure. Perhaps Dennis or Gene could comment on the report.

Good luck to anyone going to look for the gull,

Russell Rogers
4510 Glenn Way SW
Seattle, WA 98116
(206) 935-6280
rrogers at halcyon.com


On Tue, 29 Nov 1994, McCloskey, Lawrence R wrote:

> I "think" there is some confusion about the Ross' Gull sighting
> dates. The Seattle RBA transcript has it being first seen the 17th and
> 18th, which is surely in error. My understanding is that Phil Bartley
> first saw the bird just this past Sunday, 27 November. A recent
> transcript from Scott Ray has it being seen on the 30th--which is
> tomorrow.
> Those of us who have seen it Monday (the 28th) and again today (the
> 29th), are hoping it stays around for awhile so the rest of the birding
> fraternity can experience this ornithological thrill. For the sake of
> those whose work commitments prevent them from trying right away, please,
> if you do see it, post the news for the sake of the latecomers as they
> try to decide whether to try or not.
> Let me say it has been pretty predictable, maybe almost "too easy."
> The observations of some of us are that the bird tends to loaf with the
> Bonapartes down stream, but periodically flies back up to the dam
> (usually on the fish ladder gizmo side) and takes small fish. It
> sometimes simply sets down on the water after a feeding bout and floats
> back down river to the bar. If you get impatient at the fish ladder
> observation tower, drive down to the "natural area" below the dam and
> head through it to the river's edge where you can spot the loafing gulls
> on a small exposed bar at the river's edge (Oregon side). Check out the
> great habitat of the natural area too; who knows, maybe we will
> experience the "Patagonia effect" here!
> In a phone conversation with Phil Bartley this evening, we got to
> musing about the previous records for Ross' Gull. All I had quick access
> to was Roberson's wonderful but now dated book (Rare Birds of the West
> Coast) and Gilligan et al.'s Birds of Oregon. Roberson has listed one
> sighting at the south end of Vancouver Island many years ago, and
> Gilligan et al. have listed just the Oregon sighting of Feb 18 to Mar 1,
> 1987. Wasn't there another sighting in Oregon more recently than that,
> does anyone know? Since the McNary dam [note the spelling] bird does
> indeed fly from one shore of the river to the other, is this Washington
> state's first record?
> Larry McCloskey {mcclla at wwc.edu}
>
>