Subject: Kamchatka Mew Gull
Date: Feb 3 21:37:10 2001
From: Scott Atkinson - scottratkinson at hotmail.com


Dear Tweeters:

I went searching this morn for the Edmonds Arctic Loon and although I never
found anything I was certain in the far distance was an Arctic, others
earlier than I did. And the birding got better up at the Everett STP.

Among a horde of 1200 of our regular Mew Gulls (and about 300 other gulls,
mostly Glaucous-wingeds and hybrid Glaucous-winged x Westerns) was a single
winter-plumaged adult KAMCHATKA MEW GULL (L. canus kamschatschensis). I
would have wrote in sooner but we just returned from family "rounds"; I did
call the bird in on the cell as I was viewing it.

I had the good fortune of a sleeping bird amidst a tight pack of our normal
Mews and other gulls standing along the access road that runs along the
north side of the circulating ponds, which are immediately south of the main
sewage ponds. The bird was studied from about 50-70 ft.

It was a pretty typical Kamchatka Mew (I've seen countless numbers of them
from Kamchatka, south Sakhalin and the southern Russian Far East mainland
over the last decade, where they are common to abundant in migration in each
case, a few in winter/summer and offshore). In close comparison, this is a
bird slightly larger and longer overall than our Mew, and to my eye anyway
comes off immediately as more barrel-chested. This bird exhibited that
feature and a plainly longer bill, both legs and bill are pure yellow as
with our Mew. Unlike some Kamchatka Mews, this bird did not have a dark
ring near the bill tip, but not all of them do.

One reason why my bird seemed larger than our Mews is that the head seems
larger--partly because the crown is not so rounded but has a "point" or
ridge to it; this bird also had smudgy brown on the neck and crown, and a
slightly more distinct smudge coming down from the crown to close to/behind
the eye. The net effect of the larger head on my bird (and other Kamchatka
Mews) is that of a slightly "meaner" look than is typical of the more
innocent (and often paler white) look on the more rounded heads of our usual
Mews.

Also of note were the extensively black wingtips, much like our Mews' but
with somewhat less white spotting than our Mews' usually do. As my bird was
sleeping until it took flight, I did not see the eye coloration. Other
details to be forthcoming.

This is a notable subspecies for our region, and it is worth observing that
at least one set of recent authors (Bhurat, Bhushan et al, A Field Guide to
the Waterbirds of Asia, '93) entered it as a distinct species, so, given the
trend toward splitting, you never know.

Other highlights: Dan Olson of Snohomish and I relocated the Red-shouldered
Hawk perched low amid the marshland scrub east of the barn overlook at
nearby Spencer I. The hawk was quite vocal well before we spotted it.
There was also a dark swallow, sp. (not a white belly and almost surely a
Barn) that wheeled about off to the east for a minute or two.

All in all there were 62 species, not bad for a February morning and several
species (Fox, Song Sparrows, House Finches, Winter, Bewick's and Marsh
Wrens+) already singing in accord with the mild winter conditions.

Scott Atkinson
Lake Stevens
email: scottratkinson at hotmail.com


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