[MDOsprey] White gulls in August
Dave Mozurkewich (dm@fornax.usno.navy.mil)
Mon, 16 Aug 1999 16:30:27 -0400 (EDT)
Has anyone else seen the white juvenal Laughing Gull hanging around
Maryland's southern eastern shore?
Its tail band and primaries are a warm brown, which I will describe as the
color of a coffee stain. Its folded primaries are fairly dark but I saw
no hint of black pigment. The underparts and back are white. The upper
wing coverts are a warm brown, similar to the tail band, but light enough
to pass for white with a quick look.
The bird had pink legs and a pink bill. It gave me the impression of a
dark (right) eye, but I was not close enough to be sure I could see the
iris. I did not look at its left eye.
The bird was loafing with a large flock of regular Laughing Gulls at the
E.A. Vaughn WMA pond, late afternoon, Friday, August 13, 1999. I am
basing the identification on the bird's size and bill shape which match
the Laughing Gulls in the flock and its age on the presence of a tail
band.
Quite a pretty bird. Too bad it wasn't a quick look at a distant fly-by;
no telling what I would have called it.
Dave
David Mozurkewich
Seabrook, MD USA
dm@fornax.usno.navy.mil