Hi Tweets,

The Black-headed Gull was still present at the Everett
Sewage ponds today. It was perched on the wall at the South end
of the main ponds (just North of the gravel road to Spencer Is.)
at 1:30 today. Three immature Franklin's Gulls were present as
well.

The Black-headed Gull was not quite in the high "breed-
ing" plumage that I expected. Pre-basic molt has obviously begun,
as the head is a creamy brown, there being a fair amount of white
intruding into the brown hood; the bird still stands out though
since none of the Bonies I saw (hundreds) had anything close to
a hood. The black underside to the outer primaries is also quite
noticeable when the bird flies. As this was a life bird for me
I wasn't sure how visible this mark would be; I'd guess that even
after the Black-headed Gull completed molting it would still
stand out when in flight.

There is a nice variety, and good numbers, of ducks on
the ponds; Shovelers are by far most numerous. Although I'm not
anti-hunting it does amuse me a little to think of hunters taking
home what they've bagged at Spencer Island and feeding the family
with those sewage pond fattened ducks ;) "Pass the potatos please,
I'm not real fond of wildfowl, thanks!"

Jim Flynn
Renton, WA
bf519 at scn.org