Hi All,

At the gull roost at Kitsilano Pool, on Vancouver BC Canada's west side,
among the newly-arrived Definitive Alternate and usual wintering MEW GULLS
Larus canus, race brachyrhynchus, was an pre-Alternate-molt KAMCHATKA L.
canus, race kamtschatschensis. Sorry, no photographs.

I was checking out the wintering Mew Gull flock there this morning (~50-60
birds; noticed that since I looked last Sunday there had been an influx of
Definitive Alternate birds; most pre-Alt molt, about 10 Def Alt, about five
pre-Alt 1's). At the closest edge of the flock (~20 meters) I noticed one
preening bird seemed to be considerably larger and more robust (~15%-20%)
than the classic Alternate Mew standing directly beside it. It did not seem
to be a RING-BILLED GULL L. delawarensis, having a darker mantle and greater
primary extension, but since the head was concealed as the bird preened, I
was unable to see any detail which might have shown what species it was.

Finally it stopped preening, looked up, and I knew *instantly* I was looking
at a Kamchatka Gull. Wow! Was it *different*-looking to the Mews! the head
and bill are much more like one of the bigger white-headed gulls than just a
jumbo-sized Mew for one thing; it was paler-eyed with a dull yellow iris,
the undeveloped orbital ring was very thin, tinged dull reddish, and it had
a smudged dusky anterior eye-crescent. The long, comparatively large
yellow-green bill had a dark sub-terminal band near the noticeable gonys
(see Figure 17 in Michael Tove's 'Field Separation of Ring-billed, Mew,
Common and Kamchatka Gulls', Birding vol XXV, Number 6, for a good idea of
the comparative bill size and subterminal pattern, though the picture is of
a COMMON GULL L. canus, nominate race; the bill on the Kitsilano gull was
even heavier, with a distinct, shallow gonys); head-streaking was restricted
to a few coarse brownish-grey streaks and blobs, irregularly distributed.
Mantle shade, green leg-color and proportional leg-length didn't seem to
differ from the Mews'; wingtip projection seemed about the same proportion,
but overall, the bird was considerably more robust than the largest of the
~50-60 Mews present, being about 15%-20% larger, at least equal in size to a
Ring-billed Gull.

Well, Finagle's Law states that the perversity of the universe tends to a
maximum. I looked long enough to be 100% sure that I wasn't mis-ID'ing a
very large Mew (no chance--not even close) and dived into my backpack to get
my notebook to document the field marks and make a field sketch. At the
moment I turned back with it, the bird along with a small group of three or
four Alt Mews got up and flew out of the pool and west along the shore out
of sight. Gaaahhhddd, noooo!!!! I tried to get an in-flight primary pattern,
but the birds headed off directly away, bums-only visible--the perversity of
the universe, etc-- and I didn't get to see what the wing-pattern was other
than the usual two big mirrors on black outermost primaries--all I could see
was that it was clearly a larger gull with a wider wingspan than the others.
Optical equipment, 7 X 35 bins; distance, about 20 meters; total duration of
observation, just over three minutes, of which the bird's head was concealed
during wing-preening about two and a half minutes--about thirty to
forty-five seconds with head and bill showing for sufficiently long periods
to see the main marks and to do direct comparisons with the Def Alt Mew
standing right next to it.

Since off-leash dog-owners have appropriated Kitsilano Beach, Kits Pool
(just N of Cornwall Avenue and Vine Street) has been the only place left in
the area where gulls can preen and snooze undisturbed, and the observation
platform above the pool's concrete apron make this a good site in Vancouver
BC proper to study the following wintering species as they cycle through
their various plumages (distribution given for the site, not the Greater
Vancouver Checklist Area): MEW GULLS Larus canus, race brachyrhynchus, the
most common throughout the winter; RING-BILLED GULLS L. delawarensis,
common; CALIFORNIA GULLS L. californicus, uncommon to common;
GLAUCOUS-WINGED GULLS L. glaucescens, common; a few nominate-race WESTERN
GULLS L. occidentalis, rare--after Mew Gulls, most common are the hybrids
between these two; HERRING GULLS L. argentatus, race smithsonianus and
THAYER'S GULLS L. thayeri are both quite rare at this site. And each winter,
there's usually one or two god-only-knows: big, strange-looking Basic 1 or 2
birds which don't fit the usual occidentalis X glaucescens mold but might be
some immature Asian critters. With so many Mews there each winter, I've been
waiting for this race/species to appear for some time.

I realise that, owing to the lack of opportunity to analyse and record the
bird's plumage completely over a long-duration observation, the above
sighting doesn't contain the comprehensive fine-point detailed description
and exhaustive point-by-point elimination of similar species required to
make this a formal record but I thought it worthwhile to get the word about
this bird out anyway; perhaps someone familiar with the species (and who
owns a camera) can relocate it at this roost. Also, this might be their
migration window, and so there might be some at other sites along the
Pacific coast.

And I can report some heartening news for those who feel--as I
did--diffident about their ability to winnow out one of these birds in a
flock of Mews: when you see an Alternate-plumaged Kam in a flock of Mew
Gulls, you will not have to second-guess your ID.

Well, maybe you will, come to think of it: how would one separate a vagrant
Western Palearctic canus looking for the analogical coast from a
kamtschatschensis who fell into bad company in the Bering Sea and ended up
migrating down the eastern side of the Pacific?

Michael Price
Vancouver BC Canada
mprice at mindlink.net