[MDOsprey] Fwd: Gulls

BlkVulture@aol.com
Fri, 19 Nov 1999 23:42:01 EST 

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Hello all..

I feel like I am trespassing.  

As Kurt mentioned, since 1996 I have been part of the group that counts gulls 
at Hains Point for the DC Count.  Typically it is Bob Abrams and I, with John 
Bjerkie showing up a bit later.  The following is the reply I sent to Charles 
Heath off the list.  Since I knew nothing about Charles or his birding, my 
response is intended for a beginner.  This is also clearly based on only 
three dates of observation, with Laughing Gulls only being present in big 
numbers in 1998.  

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Return-path: BlkVulture@aol.com
From: BlkVulture@aol.com
Full-name: BlkVulture
Message-ID: <0.59e18ee0.2566d2d4@aol.com>
Date: Fri, 19 Nov 1999 11:20:36 EST
Subject: Gulls
To: cheath@alexandria.adroit.com
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Charles...

Should someone with a bit more knowledge about this phenomena chime in, they 
may be more correct than I am.  

Since 1996, I have counted the gulls for the DC Christmas Bird Count.  It is 
held in mid-December.  We count from the south tip of Hains Point, near The 
Awakening statue. What you are talking about is pretty accurate of what we 
saw last year, and every year when you take out one factor.  

The variable is a species of gull called Laughing Gull.  1998 was the only 
year we had large numbers of them, about 2000.  Mid-December is getting late 
to see them.  These are the birds that are flying low to the water, often in 
strings of single file birds.  They are from any distance without binoculars, 
uniformly dark on the back.  Last December we had a couple thousand of these 
birds stream out of the Anacostia River.  They continued to fly down river.  

The other gulls you are seeing are most likely Ring-billed Gulls, with 
Herring Gulls mixed in.  Ringed-billed will heavily outnumber Herring.  These 
birds fly higher over the river, and emerge from both the Anacostia, and 
further up the Potomac.  There have been up to 30000 Ring-billed in one day.  
 

Where they are going I am not sure.  There will be big rafts of Ringers and 
Herrings on the river between the airport and Alexandria.  The Laughers seem 
to go further.  Their origin is even more unclear to me.  Gulls like to roost 
on water.  I suspect that as the sun begins to set, these birds move toward 
the river from the fast food joints that they are foraging at.  That would be 
the case for Ringers and Herrings.  I have no idea where the Laughing Gulls 
are coming from.

Todd Day
Jeffersonton, VA
BlkVulture@aol.com

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