Subject: Re: the missing terns(and juvenile California Gull)
Date: Jul 8 17:26:20 1996
From: steppie at wolfenet.com - steppie at wolfenet.com


>Well, some of them, anyway.
>
>On Sunday, 7 July, we kayaked around the spoil-bank islands on the west
>side of the Swinomish Channel north of hwy. 20, between Mt. Vernon and
>Anacortes,

>Even more surprising was a fresh juvenile California Gull, easily
>identified at fairly close range. This must have been the first fledged
>from some interior colony.

>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

On 4 July 1994, I observed 250 California Guills, mainly juveniles, flying
steadily downstream along the Columbia at the White Bluffs in Franklin
County. Their appearance on salt water by 7 July, given a similar year in
1996 chronology-wise, seems appropriate. It sure seems like most waste no
time in getting out to salt water, witness the substantial counts on
Westport pelagic trips through the years, as Terry Wahl and crew have tallied.

Andy Stepniewski
Wapato WA