This morning I made a quick trip to Tacoma, WA to see the megararity (ABA Area Code 4) adult Black-tailed Gull that's been spending the past week or so at Commencement Bay off of Marine View Drive. Victoria Irwin and I took the 8:45 a.m. ferry into Seattle. Once in Seattle we meet up with her sister Jill and drove down to Tacoma. Upon arriving at the spot where the gull has been seen from, we spotted Kevin Aanerud and he had the bird in his scope. The bird was sleeping on a log boom with California Gulls and Black Turnstones. We watched it for a while so we could get all the field marks: mantle color darker than California Gull, pale eye (vs dark eye in CA Gull), yellow legs, bill with a red tip and of course the black tail. It was still there when we left. It was a lifer for all of us and the 5th Washington State record!
was great to see this gull and others, thanks for sharing your expertise!
ReplyDelete