Subject: (no subject)
Date: Jan 10 10:08:05 1995
From: Hirth John - hirth at mme.wsu.edu



Hi Mike: We made two passes at the river near Lewiston and saw it the
second time around noon. The gull was hanging around with several herring
gulls and indeed chased one (seeking to rob it?) as we watched. I suspect
it forages in the morning and rests in late morning. It was first seen two
weeks ago by Dan Svingen resting on the large gravel bar across from the
weigh station on Rte 12 one mile east of Lewiston. It was also seen by
Carol Van de Voorde and Winnie Hepburn on the ice near the grain terminals
across the river from the big levee pond in Lewiston resting near a very
large duck population. We saw it on the shore on the Clarkston side of the
Snake just where the Snake joins the Clearwater. The area can be scanned
from the notheast corner of the Costco parking lot and also from an access
road below that runs along the Snake. The latter area might be better for a
photo. The bird was just out of range for our camera and obviously a photo
would be valuable.

We saw the gull flying, standing and sleeping. It is finely streaked
giving it a uniform light beige appearance. It appeared slightly smaller
than the Herring Gulls that were near it, had darkish pink legs, had the
"gentle" appearance mentioned by Grant with a smoothly rounded head, had an
all dark bill that appeared to blend to a dark green at the base, had a
relatively short bill (about .45 *the head size), and when standing had wing
tips that clearly extended beyond the tail. The eye appeared dark.

Good luck! John