Observers: D.Parker
Email: jimndebbyatquenetdotcom
Remote Name: 209.221.221.248
Date: 10/26/2003
Time: 11:16:08 AM
With the scope in the shade of a glowing yellow cottonwood, mid-day, we studied the gulls coming and going from the first inlet to the N. of the marina. Setting up our chairs & getting out the field guides we studied the gulls. No Lesser Black-backed was found but it was probably part of a huge gull flock that was farther out. We kept at it anyway, trying to figure out what the large bossy, 2nd winter gull was standing in shallow water at the mouth of the creek where it flows into the reservoir. It was catching small fish. Jim figured Herring based on larger size than Cals, pale patch in wing when it flew, leg color and bill size and color. While we were at it, we thought we saw two Thayer's Gulls (juvenile plumage), the "latte" birds but slightly larger than the "latte" Cal Gulls (pale juveniles) present also. These are not 100 % positive IDs, as we're still learning our gulls. Otherwise, there were around 50 Bufflehead, one female type Scoter, too far away to tell for sure but probably a Surf and at least 8 Common Loons. The water is covered with birds and a scope is very helpful.