This was sent to me by a person I consider a fairly experienced birder. It
sounds to me like it might well be a Red-legged Kittiwake.

>Dear Dennis,
>
>Bob Paine suggested that I contact you regarding an interesting bird
>sighting we made this past week travelling to and from Tatoosh Island. On
>our way out (6/28, around noon), we passed through an aggregation of
>seabirds feeding in the rip that usually is present off of Koitlah Point,
>at the west end of Neah Bay. Within the flock, I noted a small gull with
>unusual markings and flight. It had a white head with a black patch in the
>vicinity of the ear, much like some winter-plumage black-headed gulls, and
>also had a collar marking around the side of the neck. The wing tips were
>black and it had a grey back without a dark "W". It also had a more
>pronounced upstroke to its flight than is typical for most gulls. After
>consulting various bird books, it seemed that the only possiblity it could
>be was an immature red-legged kittiwake (the picture in the Natl.
>Geographic guide seemed like a dead-ringer). The bird had a collar and
>lacked the white wing ends of a winter plumage Bonaparte's gull, and didn't
>have the "W" of either the immature Bonapartes or the black-legged
>kittiwake.
>
>Upon our return yesterday, we (Bob, myself, and my student Lucie Weis)
>decided to search and see if we could see it again. We again found it in
>the same location feeding in the rip W. of Neah Bay, and got another good
>look at it. Bob agreed it was a kittiwake, and that it lacked the
>appropriate markings to be a black-legged kittiwake. Aside from confirming
>my prevous observations, we verified that it had a completely white tail,
>and also had a white "triangle" on the secondaries of the wing, behind the
>solid light gray of most of the wing. Lucie tried to snap off a couple of
>pictures, and hopefully they will be of use when developed, although she
>ran out of film before she could get a shot of it in flight. Anyway, I
>don't know what else it could possibly be, given the observed field marks.
>It certainly looks like the only decent picture in the bird guides.
>
>Since it seems to be hanging around Neah Bay at the moment (perhaps the
>unusually cold water has brought it down?), perhaps others might want to
>try to charter a boat at Neah Bay and see if it can be further verified.
>
>Tim Wootton
>
>Dept. of Ecology & Evolution
>University of Chicago
>1101 E. 57th St.
>Chicago, IL 60637
>(773) 702-2773

Dennis Paulson, Director phone 253-756-3798
Slater Museum of Natural History fax 253-756-3352
University of Puget Sound e-mail dpaulson at ups.edu
Tacoma, WA 98416
http://www.ups.edu/biology/museum/museum.html