iHi Steven,
Reading you message It's exciting.I this come back to see the SLATY-BACKED
GULL again, on the same Roof we relocate this Bird where I took the first
photos in bad lighting.I stood yesterday from 11:00AM TO 4:00PM and could
not found this BIRD.I meet the Plant Manager today, he ask what i was
doing?After i told him about this rare Gull, try to take more photos, he
told me i can stay.Wasn't this nice of him?There is a Sign in the front,
what say's PRIVATE PROPERTY!!!
I can hardly waite to see Dennis today. There was quite few Birders there
yesterday, also one which came the day before and had to leave early. We
had a real dark Adult Western Gull yesterday People realy looked at this
Gull, i took one glimpse and i know it was a Western Gull, this is wy i
put the simple comparison in my message. I try real hard now. to learn
GULLS now, and i can tell i am getting better.I am so happy to had a
chance to meet you, because of the outstanding Website you created.
Sincerly Ruth
GODWIT at worldnet.att.net

----------
> From: Steve Hampton <hampton at primal.ucdavis.edu>
> To: Tweeters <tweeters at u.washington.edu>
> Subject: Slaty-backed Gull at Port of Tacoma
> Date: Monday, January 05, 1998 10:55 AM
>
>
> I'm back in Calif now, but, thanks to the persistence of
> Ruth Sullivan, I confirmed the dream bird I've been looking
> for for years, a SLATY-BACKED GULL.
>
> Late on Jan 2 I was heading back to my car from the Gog-le-hi-te
> Wetlands (near Portland and Lincoln in the Port of Tacoma area)
> when I decided to scope the gulls on the roof of the meat plant
> one more time. There was a darker one up there, so I looked...
> concluding it was a more Westerny hybrid, with a mantle shade like
> occidentalis (northern Western Gull)-- then I saw a very dark
> backed adult gull on to the right that I must have overlooked as a
> shadow of an air vent or something. From that distance, it looked
> as dark as intermedius Lesser Black-backed (which I've seen in
> Norway), slightly darker than southern wymani Western Gulls.
> I could also see some streaks on the neck and pink legs, but not
> much more from that distance.
>
> The next day, Ruth Sullivan and I located it on a rooftop about
> a block north of the wetlands and got good scope views from about
> 40 yards. Here are some comments on the standing bird:
>
> -mantle nearly black from a distance, more like wymani through scope
> -large white tertial crescent, almost bill length
> -at one point, it showed 2-3 scapular crescents (the last may have
> been a tertial), the upper pair nearly 1/2 bill length; from the
> back, these produced a "white staircase" up the bird's back
> -rather fine light brown or dirty gold streaks over crown, nape,
> and neck sides, coming across breast, though fainter; these streaks
> are hard to see from a distance-- except for the neck ones, as they
> are thicker;
> -that charcoal mascara-- a gray smudge around the eye, somewhat pointed
> in front and behind-- again, hard to see from a distance; I was
> surprised that this smudge was a completely different color than
> the streaks--- in Herring, the eye smudge is a concentration of the
> streaks, matching the streak color.
> Note that Sl-Bs may be white-headed by late January, so all these
> head markings may be molting away.
> -the eye was a bit darker than I expected-- a light amber or pale
> gold-- appearing dark through binos but pale through the scope--
> Note that southern (and even, rarely, northern Westerns and even
> one pure Gl-W that I saw at Gog-le-hi-te) can match this eye color!
> Of course, Gl-W/Western will not show fine brownish streaks on the
> head and neck-- only gray smudging with delicate barring.
> -the bill was a tad smaller and straighter than Gl-W/Western with
> a smaller gonydeal angle and less steep curve of the culmen to the
> tip; it was pale yellow with a reddish spot.
>
> Alas, I never got a good look at the primaries in flight, but the
> trailing edge of the secondaries was quite large.
>
> Ruth later got many many photos at point blank range (I missed that!);
> these show brighter pink legs than Gl-W and a thin red orbital ring.
> No photos of the open primaries yet.
>
>
> thanks to Rick Romea, Richard Rowlett, Eric Kraig, Rob
> Conway, and others for suggestions for my trip. I did see
> Ancient Murrelets, but missed many other targets. I was not
> allowed in the Thurston Co landfill, but saw the gulls well from
> the fence via the subdivision north of the landfill -- nothing
> but Gl-W and 2 Californias there. Also, thanks to Steve Mlodinow
> for suggesting Gog-le-hi-te--- I saw about 100 Thayer's there of
> all plumages-- wonderful place!
>
>
> Steve Hampton
>
> ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
> hampton at primal.ucdavis.edu
> http://www.agecon.ucdavis.edu/homepages/hampton/index.htm
>
> Dept. of Ag. and Resource Economics
> UC Davis, Davis, CA 95616 USA
>
>