In the late afternoon about 100-125 gulls showed up at the west outflow of Black Dog Lake. Earlier in the afternoon, about the same number of gulls were seen roosting on the rooftops off of Highway 13 near the Burnsville landfill, as they often do. What was different about today is that the gulls were not on the rooftop of the usual building; instead, they were on the new Menards building, which made them almost impossible to see.
The gulls were quite close at the west outflow, however, where the following were noted: Iceland Gull - first-cycle, loafing on the ice where the west outflow runs out of Black Dog Lake; Thayer's Gull - adult. This was a different bird from the one Caleb photographed as it had a heavily marked head. Also seen loafing on the ice after bathing. We also saw the "Thayer's Gull" that Caleb photographed (see his email for a link to the photo). I believe, however, that this bird is, at the very least, an Iceland x Thayer's intergrade, and more likely a full Iceland Gull (adult). While we don't have photos, we were able to observe it well as it circled and fed at the river. The following were noted: * Small size when compared to many nearby HEGUs * Small, rounded head * Reduced blackish feathers on the upper wing surface * In the primaries, P10 (the outermost) had a long, completely white "tongue" (this is evident in Caleb's photo) * P9 had a large white mirror that extended across the outer web of P9 onto P10. The bird does have dark irides, suggesting Thayer's, but I've found the irides of ICGU to be variable (yellowish to brownish). (If anyone sees characteristics of this bird that suggest it is an intergrade, I'd be interested in hearing your thoughts.) A Glaucous Gull was seen over by the landfill. Undoubtedly this was the same individual that Caleb photographed at some point today at the west outflow. Several first-cycle Ring-billed Gulls and about 100-120 Herring Gulls rounded out the total species count. Paul, with Doug Kieser and Jim Otto. Paul Budde Minneapolis, MN [email protected] ---- Join or Leave mou-net: http://lists.umn.edu/cgi-bin/wa?SUBED1=mou-net Archives: http://lists.umn.edu/archives/mou-net.html
