Hello Tweets,

Today my mother and I spent ventured back up to Renton for more gull watching at both the mouth of the Cedar River and Gene Coulon Park,although gull watching was very limited at the Cedar River Park since the fenced gate to the boat house was locked during our morning visit and remained locked for the remainder of the day. Our main search of the day was not just the Great Black-backed and Slaty-backed Gulls,but the 3rd winter Glaucous Gull observed by Dennis Paulson and others yesterday afternoon from Cedar River Park.We arrived at the Cedar River Park at 10am,as a few birders stood outside the locked gate scoping what gulls we could see from the north end of the parking lot on the exposed sand bars,etc. A few additional birders arrived around 11am,as gull flocks began to slowly build within the limited viewing made as we stood outside the locked gate,as well as view the gull flocks from the grassy knoll at the north end of the parking lot at Cedar River Park. Our first Glaucous Gull(being a 1st winter bird)of the day was encountered at 10:40am observed by Bart Whelton of Spokane and I(Patrick)flying in from an undisclosed location to land briefly at the mouth of the Cedar River,before soon being flushed and flying east towards Gene Coulon Park. As many birders stood around scoping the gull flocks from the parking lot, I(Patrick)decided to scope out over Lake Washington towards Gene Coulon Park and scope the vast gull flocks resting along the floating logbooms,then at 12pm I was able to easily locate the 3rd winter Glaucous Gull standing on the floating logbooms along with other nearby gulls,then all the other birders where able to put their scopes on it and get limited views,as the bird moved around on the floating logbooms. We decided to quickly drive over to Gene Coulon Park,where the 3rd winter Glaucous Gull was immediately located,then photographed at the north end of the park in the same location than we left it from Cedar River Park. The bird was well observed in fairly good lighting resting and swimming near the floating logboom along with a 1st winter Glaucous Gull. The group of birders from Cedar River Park soon arrived and all got good views of the both gulls,but the 3rd winter Glaucous Gull was most impressive to us and our first of this age group that we have encountered in WA. It was a very rewarding gull to see and allowed great views from various vantage points at the north end of Gene Coulon Park until 1:30pm when the bird flew off with a small flock of gulls,as we all watched it flying towards the mouth of the Cedar River,where it eventually landed. We did not observe either the Great Black-backed Gull or the Slaty-backed Gull during our entire time at both parks and were not aware of both birds being observed by any birders we met during the day.

Overall the 3rd winter Glaucous Gull was very striking with the white head and underparts and completely white primaries contrasting to the very pale gray mantle. The hind neck showed noticeable light brown smudging along with brown feathers noted on the white tail,giving a banded appearance in flight. The eye was pale and the fairly short,straight thin yellow bill was not as bulky or thick compared to the nearby 1st winter Glaucous Gull,which Dennis Paulson mentioned in his Tweeters posting to some detail. The bill yellow bill also showed a dark spot(being either very dark red or black near the tip of the bill,which was noted). The size of the bird was similar to several nearby Glaucous-winged Gulls,but in flight the bird seemed larger and obviously showed a heavier build with wider wings.It was a exceptional gull and hopefully others will get to see it in upcoming visits to the general area.

At 1:45pm my mother and I left Gene Coulon Park and traveled south to the "old"Kent Ponds for some additional birding,but arrived back at the park at 3pm,where a very pale 2nd winter Glaucous Gull was immediately observed off the tip of Duck Island amongst many immature gulls,as we scoped from the north end of the park. Within 5 minutes we located a 1st winter Glaucous Gull(presumably the same 1st winter bird observed at this location earlier in the day)swimming along the line of floating logbooms to the north as we stood. Both birds remained at this location and were viewed by many birders until weather conditions decreased at 4:30pm. The 2nd winter bird was much paler overall than the 1st winter bird,being more cream colored on the mantle compared to a dirty white coloration noted in the 1st winter bird,but both birds showed a strongly bicolored bill with the 2nd winter bird showing a pale or clear iris unlike the dark iris noted in the 1st winter bird. We ended up the day with up to 3 Glaucous Gulls,but perhaps there could be more as each day we have visited both these locations it seems different species and numbers of gulls our encountered. Other highlights noted from both parks during the day included the following:

1 Common Loon(observed flying over Lake Washington from Cedar River Park,then continuing north beyond Mercer Island)
4 Red-necked Grebes
500+ Western Grebes
18 Greater White-fronted Geese
25 Northern Pintail(observed flying over Gene Coulon Park)
2 Ring-necked Ducks
8 Bald Eagles
2 Red-tailed Hawks(including one bird that flew down and attempted to catch an Am.Coot unsuccessfully at Gene Coulon Park)
1 adult female Peregrine Falcon
1 winter adult California Gull
7 Western Gulls
5+ Barn Swallows(observed flying over Lake Washington from both parks)
2 Yellow-rumped Warblers


Noteworthy species observed during a fairly short visit made at the "old"Kent Ponds between 2pm-2:45pm included the following:

4 Eurasian Wigeons(3 males,1 female)
7 Ring-necked Ducks
43 Ruddy Ducks
1 female Northern Harrier
1 adult male Peregrine Falcon


Good birding,

Ruth and Patrick Sullivan
godwit at worldnet.att.net