I'm starting to think that the two 'black-headed' gulls we saw at Dumas Bay Sanctuary on Saturday were not Bonapartes after all and were the gulls you are describing. Our view was quite distant and yours was much closer. In our case the two gulls with black heads were associated with 15 or so unmistakable Bonapartes in winter/immature plumage (dot behind eye, no black heads). We could not discern the bill color, except that it was darkish and any size difference was not obvious given the distance.

Tom Benedict
Seahurst, WA


> On 04/08/2022 3:50 PM Al <aclark at wamail.net> wrote:

>

>

> Whoops. In reviewing my pictures, I find two black headed gulls. This picture may be found at:

>

> https://pbase.com/image/172492164

>

> I'm guessing the bird on the left is a Bonaparte's gull, pink legs, larger cap.

>

> I'm guessing the bird on the right is a Dark-Headed Gull, orange legs, smaller cap.

>

> What do you think?

>

> Al in Tacoma

>

> From: Al mailto:aclark at wamail.net

>

> Sent: Friday, April 8, 2022 1:57 PM

> To: Tweeters mailto:tweeters at u.washington.edu

> Subject: [Tweeters] Black-headed gull at Dumas Bay-Yes

>

> I went to Dumas Bay on April 3 and found hundreds of gulls, many with black heads so I didn't find Waldo.

>

> Friday morning I went to Dumas Bay and found only 50 gulls, only one with a black head. The group of gulls were north of the park, beyond the No Trespassing signs.

>

> There were no other birders- Great easy lifer. High tide at 10 am made the gulls much closer.

>

> Al in Tacoma

>

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