I am following up on the Mew Gull report from yesterday afternoon at Lake Calhoun.
The bird was found and identified by David Pavlik very close to shore by the parking lot in the southwest corner of the lake. The gull was visible for maybe 20-30 minutes before we lost track of it while scanning the other gulls. It was last seen just behind the farthest (northernmost) floating dock. Shortly after that, hundreds of gulls all took flight, circled, and eventually landed again. There were many hundreds of gulls farther north on the lake, well out of scope range. Other birders showed up, but to my knowledge, no one relocated the Mew Gull. It could easily still be in the area, given the large number of gulls present on the lake (and the other area lakes). David posted pictures on the Minnesota Birding facebook page and there is absolutely no question on the ID; various expert birders in the group all agree that the bird was an adult Mew Gull. There was also an adult Thayer's Gull and at least one Lesser Black-backed Gull present. Peter Nichols Cottage Grove Washington County ---- Join or Leave mou-net: http://lists.umn.edu/cgi-bin/wa?SUBED1=mou-net Archives: http://lists.umn.edu/archives/mou-net.html