Fred Bird wrote:

>(1) a pair of Ring-billed Gulls raised two young in another parking lot
>planter adjacent to the Arctics. Is this unusual? John seems to think so.

I know of no Ring-billed breeding west of the Cascades except in Grays
Harbor, although I've long thought they should be breeding in the Puget
Sound region, for example the spoil banks next to the Swinomish Channel

>(2) predation on the local Caspians by Bald Eagles around Jetty Island is
>significant, according to John. I recall some controversy about this Bald
>Eagle predation claim in years past. Does such a controversy yet exist? In my
>limited observation of the area I have often watched at a distance as the
>eagles patrolled the Caspian-littered beaches, swooping down occasionally as
>if looking for lunch. I have not, however, actually seen a kill. Any thoughts?

I would believe anything I heard about Bald Eagles. After all, they are
the national bird! Bald Eagles come close to being corvids in their
culinary breadth and opportunism, and, unlike corvids, they are very
talonted. For years I've thought they could be blamed for most Great Blue
Heron colony failures, even while people were pointing their fingers at
developers, Republicans, and other such evils. Did I mention earlier that
they are causing a great deal of murre-tality up and down the Pacific
coast? People working on Tatoosh Island are documenting this. They
submitted a paper on it to Conservation Biology, and the paper was
rejected--they thought because eagle-loving raptor biologists reviewed it.

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