Carl,

This bird looks like a 2nd calendar year Bonaparte's Gull.
Bonaparte's Gulls have been recorded every month of the year in King County
with the fewest in June.
The only records I have for the county in June are:
12 June 1985, one immature, Discovery Park.
6 June 1987, one immature, Auburn Ponds.
6 June 1998, two immatures, Kent Ponds.
The two immatures at the Kent Ponds were both 2nd Calendar Year birds. Both
looked quite faded. One looked like first-winter and the other looked like
your bird[ first summer].

Dave Beaudette
Wenatchee,WA
drtbrdr at earthlink.net

-----Original Message-----
From: Carl Haynie <Carl.Haynie at pluggablelogic.com>
To: Tweeters <tweeters at u.washington.edu>
Date: Thursday, June 26, 2003 2:56 PM
Subject: Bonaparte's Gull


>Tweets,
>
>Just returned from an interesting outing at Lake Sammamish State Park.
>Amidst the loose dogs and other commotion at "the point", there was this
>small tern-like gull which I photographed and studied at length:
>
>http://www.pluggablelogic.com/aves/lssp/bogu/BonGull.htm
>
>The bird returned several times to this location at the mouth of Issaquah
>Creek despite being frightened off as many times. It was also seen flying
>near the boat landing and along the eastern shore of Lake Sammamish.
>
>Is this a first June record for King County? I would appreciate any
>comments about the ageing and identification, especially if I've got it
>wrong! It was certainly a surprise.
>
>Carl Haynie
>Sammamish, WA
>Carl.Haynie at pluggablelogic.com
>