>If we have any enterprising invertebrate zoologists who can ID starfish
>from photographs, there is an interesting picture labeled "Western Gull"
>in my edition of John K Terres's Audubon Encyclopedia of birds that shows
>a large gull carrying a large pink starfish in its bill. The picture had
>already attracted my attention because is the only one I've noticed so far
>in the book where the bird in question is misidentified (it appears to be
>a Glaucous-winged Gull).
>
>
>Chris Hill
>Seattle, WA
>cehill at u.washington.edu

Chris, I'm bringing in a starfish ID book from home, and, if no one else
has done so, I'll try to identify the starfish in the photo next time I'm
in my office. It may be Pisaster ochraceus, the common starfish of the WA
outer coast, and the prey in all gull/starfish interactions I've seen on
the coast (and indeed it's replaced by Pisaster brevispinus in Puget Sound)
but it seems a bit robust for that species, so I'll withhold judgment until
I check other species. It's certainly a glaucous-wing, as you surmised.
No wonder beginners have trouble with identification; in some of the older
field guides, hardly any of the info on gull identification was entirely
accurate.

I recall another misidentified bird in Terres, the "bristle-thighed curlew"
that's actually a whimbrel.

Dennis Paulson phone: (206) 756-3798
Slater Museum of Natural History fax: (206) 756-3352
University of Puget Sound e-mail: dpaulson at ups.edu
Tacoma, WA 98416