Tweeters,

Has anyone had the chance to check out Mary's Gull at Bottle Beach?

-Rolan

hrudkaj mary <hrudkajm at hotmail.com> wrote:
While out looking for sunshine (successful) and red phalaropes (also
successful) I found an interest gull out near Bottle Beach in Grays Harbor
County. It was in a flooded pasture just SW of the first driveway west of
the Bottle Beach State Park parking area across from Acosta 3rd St (where
there is a lone immature trumpeter swan).

The gull was a bit larger than a Bonaparte's gull which I first thought it
was. But after studying it for about 20 minutes and referring to two bird
guides I'm leaning to it being a Black-headed Gull. What really caught my
eye was the vividly deep red shortish legs and the dark red, small-ish bill
(which showed dark red when the sun caught it just right). The legs were a
much darker and richer red that those of a Bonaparte's legs. It's head had
a small black circle behind the eye and a darker gray line from there and
one from over the eye swept toward the back of the crown, meeting the lines
from the other side of its head creating a dark gray patch on top of the
head. When it flew up it did not have dark underwings ruling out a Little
Gull. It's dark red bill ruled out a red-legged kittiwake. It appeared a
lighter shade of gray overalll than a Bonaparte's gull. It had no winter
mottling on its head such a mew gull might have. This gull was the only
gull in the pasture, or anywhere else visible from there. At times, as it
stood on some matted vegetation, it would bob its head up and down but held
its head erect unlike how a feeding shorebird would do.

The same pasture had at least a dozen red phalaropes dervishly whirling as
they fed. Many greater yellow-legs wandered about in the water. There was
a great derth of geese anywhere I was today (I got fooled into checking out
some 'geese' off a road just north of Ocosta 6th St., they are decoys).

A jaunt through Brady Loop and Shouweiler brought dozens of black-bellied
plovers and hundreds of dunlin in the read of Foster and Brady Loop Rd.
Raptors included bald eagle, rough-legged hawk, red-tailed hawk, northern
harrier and kestrals between the two roads. The extensively flooded fields
on Shouweiler Rd. were completely barren of waterfowl of any kind. Six
trumpeter swans did a fly over on Brady Rd. and two tundra swans were also
on Brady Rd.

In all a good day. Hopefully the gull will be around so someone with better
gull skills than I can get a look at it.

Mary Hrudkaj
Belfair/N. Mason County
hrudkajm at hotmail.com


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Rolan Nelson
Fircrest, WA
rnbuffle at yahoo.com
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