Michael Hobbs recently posted a comparison of the bird list for Greenlake
vs. his for Marymoor park. I found some interesting items in the Larids

>Species Seen at Greenlake, but not at Marymoor:

Franklin's Gull
Little Gull
Common Black-headed Gull
Heermann's Gull
Herring Gull
Western Gull
Glaucous Gull

Little Gulls and Common Black-headed are fairly rare in WA to begin with,
so it makes sense that they would be absent. Western, Glaucous, and
Heermann's gulls are fairly coastal, so that also makes sense.

But why no Herring gulls in Marymoor? Herrings range far inland, with
winter range across most of the southern half of the US. One would think
they would be more likely to be present at an inland lake like Sammamish
then say, Glaucous-winged Gulls (though Glaucous wings are MUCH more common
in the whole area).

Also, interestingly, it looks like there have been Black-Legged Kittiwakes,
which are very pelagic gulls, at Marymoor, but not some of the less pelagic
species (like Westerns).

Any thoughts?

John Chapman
Seattle, WA
e-mail to: ragweed at igc.org