Early yesterday morning there were about a dozen gulls on the water in the
middle of Lake Martin at Lathrop SP. They were mostly Ring-bills plus one
juv. Sabine's and one unknown.
The unk. gull was a long way off, but I was able to observe the following
using my scope at 60X:
Size - Larger than the Sabine's and smaller than the Ring-bills.
Head - White with a dark smudge behind the eye.
Bill - medium size, all light yellow, no marks
Underparts - white
Mantle - gray, darker than the Ring-bills.
Wings - I didn't see it fly, but it raised its wings a couple times.
The wing topsides were gray out to a small black triangle at the tip.
Tail - I couldn't see it.
Legs - also not seen.
Eye color - too far away
My best guess on this: adult Black-legged Kittiwake. I got some long
distant pictures which show the relative size and shape but no details of the
plumage. The gulls departed the lake around 9:30 AM and had not returned by
4:30 PM.
Also at seen Lake Martin, were two Cattle Egrets in non-breeding plumage.
I went to Lathrop SP mainly for migrant songbirds which can produce some
real rareties this time of year. The reality was a nearly total songbird
vacuum.
Rich Miller
Canon City
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