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}