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Hello: Well its very late and I justly got back from Mpls. and I felt I needed = to respond about the gull before some try to look for it on Sat. Wow its = already Saturday! Well I was driving along Black Dog Rd. and I ran into Connie Brunnel and = her friend Leslie on the east side of the power plant looking at gulls = on the coal pile. I was here to look for a Lesser-Black-backed Gull and = I was hoping they were staring at one on top of the coal pile. When I = got out they said "hi" and told me there is a 2nd winter Glaucous Gull = in view. Connie got on this odd looking gull and soon I got on it and Connie = noticed the light grey wing tips when the gull stretched its wing. I = watched it for awhile and knew this could not be a Thayer's Gull because = it was to damn big. It was 1-2 inched larger in height vs. any nearby = Herring Gull nearby. When I finally saw the wing tips and noticed how = barrel chested this gull looked I called Tony. I than began to take = notes on everything about the gull. I called Tony again and said " I = feel pretty confidant this is a Glaucous-winged Gull or some kind of = hybrid but feel its a Glaucous-winged". I began to take more notes and = decided to call Kim Eckert. At this moment I never really had a good = look of the eye. So while talking to Kim while looking thru Connie's = scope with her scoped zoomed into the eye (my scope is only a 30x eye = piece) and I told Kim this gull definitely had a light yellow iris and = not a dark iris. Kim said " sounds like you got a hybrid gull".=20 So we studied the gull some more and this time it finally gave us a side = view and I noticed the upper wing tips were a light charcoal color with = some large white mirrors on the tips. I was about to sketch each wing = primary when the gull turned back and faced us giving us frontal views = again. Also during a few times the gull stretched its wing the = underneath pattern was very white with some light grey on the primaries. = I was given only a few seconds to view this but it wasn't black or dark = grey. So I called Tony back and told him its definitely a hybrid gull = because of the light yellow iris as adult winter Glaucous-winged Gulls = should have dark iris and this bird lacked that. When all was done I gave my 3 pages of notes to Kim Eckert for him to = share with other MOURC members at thier meeting this Sunday. If anyone = see this bird please take pics of it. Also I was told there are a few = adult Thayer's gulls so be careful and look at the iris of anything that = looks like a adult Thayer's Gull. Mike Hendrickson ------=_NextPart_000_003A_01C3BB98.978E3BD0 Content-Type: text/html; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable <!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN"> <HTML><HEAD> <META http-equiv=3DContent-Type content=3D"text/html; = charset=3Diso-8859-1"> <META content=3D"MSHTML 6.00.2800.1276" name=3DGENERATOR> <STYLE></STYLE> </HEAD> <BODY bgColor=3D#ffffff> <DIV><FONT face=3DArial size=3D2>Hello:</FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT face=3DArial size=3D2></FONT> </DIV> <DIV><FONT face=3DArial size=3D2>Well its very late and I justly got = back from Mpls.=20 and I felt I needed to respond about the gull before some try to look = for it on=20 Sat. Wow its already Saturday!</FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT face=3DArial size=3D2></FONT> </DIV> <DIV><FONT face=3DArial size=3D2>Well I was driving along Black Dog Rd. = and I ran=20 into Connie Brunnel and her friend Leslie on the east side of the power = plant=20 looking at gulls on the coal pile. I was here to look for a = Lesser-Black-backed=20 Gull and I was hoping they were staring at one on top of the coal = pile.=20 When I got out they said "hi" and told me there is a 2nd winter=20 Glaucous Gull in view.</FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT face=3DArial size=3D2></FONT> </DIV> <DIV><FONT face=3DArial size=3D2>Connie got on this odd looking gull and = soon I got=20 on it and Connie noticed the light grey wing tips when the gull = stretched its=20 wing. I watched it for awhile and knew this could not be a Thayer's Gull = because=20 it was to damn big. It was 1-2 inched larger in height vs. any nearby = Herring=20 Gull nearby. When I finally saw the wing tips and noticed how barrel = chested=20 this gull looked I called Tony. I than began to take notes on everything = about=20 the gull. I called Tony again and said " I feel pretty confidant this is = a=20 Glaucous-winged Gull or some kind of hybrid but feel its a = Glaucous-winged". I=20 began to take more notes and decided to call Kim Eckert. At this moment = I never=20 really had a good look of the eye. So while talking to Kim while looking = thru=20 Connie's scope with her scoped zoomed into the eye (my scope is only a = 30x eye=20 piece) and I told Kim this gull definitely had a light yellow iris and = not a=20 dark iris. Kim said " sounds like you got a hybrid gull". </FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT face=3DArial size=3D2></FONT> </DIV> <DIV><FONT face=3DArial size=3D2>So we studied the gull some more and = this time it=20 finally gave us a side view and I noticed the upper wing tips were a = light=20 charcoal color with some large white mirrors on the tips. I was about to = sketch=20 each wing primary when the gull turned back and faced us giving us = frontal views=20 again. Also during a few times the gull stretched its wing the = underneath=20 pattern was very white with some light grey on the primaries. I was = given only a=20 few seconds to view this but it wasn't black or dark grey. So I called = Tony back=20 and told him its definitely a hybrid gull because of the light yellow = iris as=20 adult winter Glaucous-winged Gulls should have dark iris and this bird = lacked=20 that.</FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT face=3DArial size=3D2></FONT> </DIV> <DIV><FONT face=3DArial size=3D2>When all was done I gave my 3 pages of = notes to Kim=20 Eckert for him to share with other MOURC members at thier meeting this = Sunday.=20 If anyone see this bird please take pics of it. Also I was told there = are a few=20 adult Thayer's gulls so be careful and look at the iris of anything that = looks=20 like a adult Thayer's Gull.</FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT face=3DArial size=3D2></FONT> </DIV> <DIV><FONT face=3DArial size=3D2>Mike = Hendrickson</FONT></DIV></BODY></HTML> ------=_NextPart_000_003A_01C3BB98.978E3BD0--