I was recently in Washington birding with Brian Bell and turned up a
probable BLACK-TAILED GULL (Larus crassirostris) on the Edmonds to Kingston
Ferry. The bird was sighted on 26 January 2001 at 1:35 pm. It was
observed for a full 5 minutes as it flew along side the ferry and then
landed on a debris mat on the water surface. This is the first chance I
have gotten to post this sighting, although I did call it in on the 27th.

The adult, winter plumaged bird was spotted about 10 minutes out of
Kingston. It was on the north side of the ferry in excellent lighting and
viewing conditions. It flew from the direction of Kingston, paralleled the
boat, affording great looks and then flew out and landed on some floatsome
along side the boat (with GW Gulls). The bird was a relatively small gull,
a bit larger than Ring-billed. It was in adult plumage (winter). Mantle
and wings were medium gray approaching darkness of California Gull. The
black wing tips (outer 5-6 primaries) contrasted sharply. There were no
wing mirrors, but outer 3 primaries or so had white tips. Trailing edge of
wing white. The rump and tail was white (as were underparts), with a
distinctive, broad black subterminal band, nearly across tail. Legs were
yellow (seen when bird landed) and the bill was yellow with black tip (at
least that is the way it appeared). I could not make any other colors on
bill out and could not see eye color. The head was brown streaked, similar
to Ring-billed Gull. Underwings showed black tip, gray base to primaries
and secondaries and white under wing coverts.

I have a set of sketches (jpeg files) I made of the bird from my field book
drawn after the time of the observation and without field guides. I am
working to get these posted but do not want to hesitate any longer in
getting out the observation. I apologize for the delay. This bird is very
distinctive and should be easy to ID if refound. For more details please
contact me directly.

Andrew Engilis, Jr
Curator, MFWB
University of California, Davis
(530) 752-0364