Subject: Little Gull at Point Roberts
Date: Aug 15 22:26:16 1998
From: Ken Klimko - kkalimo at direct.ca


Michael,


Saturday, August 15th-
After hearing of a "possible" LITTLE GULL at
Point Roberts, Wa., my
dad (Ken), Rick Toochin, and myself went to Point Roberts in search of
the gull in question. We reached Lighthouse Park, hopped out of the
truck and began looking through the 300+ BONEPARTE"S GULLS sitting on
the water. We had 2 juvenille FRANKLIN'S GULLS, but no LITTLE GULL. We
walked along the beach but still no "little". We walked back to the
large flock and the gulls began to fly around a little bit. My dad
shouted-out "I think I got it!" and sure enough there it was. The bird
put back down on the water, and the three of us were able to identify
the LITTLE GULL as a Juvenille bird. We followed the bird down the
beach and had great looks of the wing pattern,the small bill, and the
dark collar. We saw the bird at "point-blank" range, with perfect
lighting and from all angles, in flight and on the water. The bird,
overall, was smaller, darker, and flew and behaved differently than the
BONEPARTE'S GULLS.
The final count produced:
3 Juv. FRANKLIN'S GULLS,
1 Juv. LITTLE GULL,
300+ BONEPARTE'S GULLS,
2 RHINOCEROUS AUKLETS,
1 COMMON MURRE,
1 COMMON TERN,
PELAGIC CORMORANTS,
DOUBLE-CRESTED CORMORANTS,
1 COMMON LOON,
100+ SANDERLING,
10 WESTERN SANDPIPERS,
BARN SWALLOWS,
GLACOUS-WINGED GULLS,
CEDAR WAXWINGS,

Kris Klimko,
Richmond, B.C.