Thank you Karl Bardon for getting a photograph of this amazing gull and posting it on the MOU web page. There is no way to know for sure but I do believe that this is the individual that I found in Canal Park on 12/13. The extent of gray on the upper wing is variable in juvenile Kittiwakes and this photo shows the gray just as I remembered it. The mantle has strong almost dark gray coloration but the gray extends only slightly out past the black M pattern. The black collar is also a variable feature on these birds and this black collar is very thick and dark. Both features on this bird are exactly how I remember them on the bird I saw and also match the sketch that I had drawn at the time. It sounds like the bird did not hang around very long for you either but the photograph is fantastic! Good birding everyone! Jason Caddy, Minneapolis ---- Join or Leave mou-net: http://lists.umn.edu/cgi-bin/wa?SUBED1=mou-net Archives: http://lists.umn.edu/archives/mou-net.html
