Tweets,

Monday afternoon there was quite a gathering of birders (about 15) at the
Walla Walla River Delta overlook south of Wallula in search of the Lesser
Black-backed Gull. We saw many, many gulls - perhaps over one thousand -
but no LBBG.

Mike Denny went beyond the call of duty with his chumming but the LBBG did
not cooperate. We had a first winter and an adult Glaucous Gull very close,
a Mew Gull, several Glaucous-winged Gulls, lots of Herring Gulls and many
Ring-billed and California Gulls.

There were many gulls way out on the mudflats at the water's edge with
several good-looking LBBG candidates. The distance was extreme and the
light was fading which hampered our efforts. The best way to find this
gull, if it is still in the area, might be to put on the rubber boots and
walk out onto the mudflats. Mike Denny said that he is usually there three
or four times a week with bread to draw gulls in so he might find it again
in a day or two.

There is no reason to get to the delta early. Mike said that most of the
gulls at the delta spend much of the day at the Walla Walla garbage dump and
go in the late afternoon to the delta. We noticed a large influx of gulls
coming from the east after 4:00 p.m. which continued for over an hour. By
5:15 the light was getting so low that we all called it quits.

Mike, Marylynne and others saw the LBBG in Walla Walla at 10:00 a.m. Monday
- as was written in an e-mail to Tweeters shortly after that. Lets hope
that it is still in the area this weekend.

Denny Granstrand

* * * * * * * * * * *
* Denny Granstrand *
* Yakima, WA *
* osprey at nwinfo.net *
* * * * * * * * * * *