Hi All,The weather man was merciful today, so I got out while it was dry. I
needed to go to McMinnville for some items, and along the way saw a
NORTHERN SHRIKE near the junc of Crowley Rd and Rt 99. In Amity I saw a MERLIN perched on a snag.
Leaving McMinnville I headed west on Rt 18 and noted the large gull flock that can sometimes be seen in fields outside of that town, so I took a left on Delashmutt Rd and to view some 300 or so gulls. On my first
pass looking them over I saw some 5 WESTERNS, and many many
GLAUCOUS-WINGEDS, and lesser numbers of HERRINGS,
then THAYER'S.
On my next pass through I spied a smaller, very dark gull which got
my birding salivary glands thinking of lesser black backed gull. It had yellow legs and was just too dark to be anything else,
so I called Paul Sullivan who came out to check it out. We finally concluded it was a very dark CALIFORNIA GULL. The iris was dark, and the bill just was not quite right for the rarer one.
Before proceeding on to the Sheridan Sewage Lagoons Paul
found a first year GLAUCOUS GULL.
There should be a photo of "the California Gull "uploaded here.
If someone wants to try to turn it into a Lesser Black Backed
I hope you are successful. Also, I hope the file is not too large.
At the SSP there was one PEREGRINE who must have just eaten. When Paul
and I saw it fly, it looked like his crop was bulging, and a little
further up the dike road we came upon the remains of a coot.
Nothing rare at the ponds, only the expected waterfowl.
I drove back into Polk County and saw a PRAIRIE
FALCON along Livermore Rd, as well as a RED-SHOULDERED HAWK. So along with the
many kestrels, I finally had a 4 falcon day.
This was posted to OBOL on 2/4/16. I have had some serious doubts about labelling the dark gull a California Gull, and have since submitted a report to the ORBC with a few pics. I have to admit that at the distance we were observing such if the iris could really be seen, and the bill could very well have had mud on it from probing for worms. A few have relayed to me that they have never seen a California Gull this dark. Here are a few more to mull over.
