>Have any of you ever seen a Mew Gull with yellow eyes? I saw one yesterday
>(before the storm), on a piling here in Port Townsend where MEGU habitually
>hang out. I could swear it was a Mew: yellow legs, same yellow bill, same
>mantle and wing pattern, same size, same jizz as the other four it was
>with. The brownish/grayish markings on the head were a bit darker right at
>the eye (but otherwise consistent with individual variation in this trait),
>and you could see white "eyelids" as on some of the dark-hooded species. I
>sketched it while I observed through my scope at 45X, from a distance of
>about 45 yds. None of my references show any other possible species, nor do
>they state that there is any variation in eye color in *this* species.
>
>Is this an aberrant individual?
>
>Janet Hardin

I've never seen or heard of a Mew Gull with yellow eyes, or any other
variation in eye color in gulls smaller than the
Glaucous-winged/Western/Thayer's size category. Amazing! Photos of such a
bird would be great in the event of a resighting at closer range. Was it
entirely pale yellow like a Ring-billed or with brown markings?

Dennis Paulson, Director 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