zz96sr@net1.ucsd.edu (Steve Rusk) (08/25/89)
You might think I'm crazy, but.......
I was camped out near Lee Vining, Calif., about 2 miles from Mono
Lake. The guy in the campsite next to me had been fishing and was feeding
the sea gulls fish entrails from cleaning his fish.
Three gulls (California or Western?) were perched on a rock, waiting
for handouts. Two of the gulls were pretty normal looking. The third
was GREEN!! About the color of a package of Wrigley's Doublemint gum.
The color was uniform -- even the feet. It was a little darker under
the wings.
The most believable explanation I've heard is that it was done on
purpose for tracking reasons -- sort of like banding.
Anybody heard of this practice? Honest; I only had one beer!
--Steveclarke@acheron.uucp (Ed Clarke/10240000) (08/26/89)
From article <1916@ucsd.EDU>, by zz96sr@net1.ucsd.edu (Steve Rusk): - for handouts. Two of the gulls were pretty normal looking. The third - was GREEN!! About the color of a package of Wrigley's Doublemint gum. Clearly, this gull was a vegetarian. ;-) -- Ed Clarke acheron!clarke
sandee@loligo (Daan Sandee) (09/13/89)
In article <1916@ucsd.EDU> zz96sr@net1.ucsd.edu (Steve Rusk) writes: > > > You might think I'm crazy, but....... > I was camped out near Lee Vining, Calif., about 2 miles from Mono >Lake. The guy in the campsite next to me had been fishing and was feeding >the sea gulls fish entrails from cleaning his fish. > Three gulls (California or Western?) were perched on a rock, waiting >for handouts. Two of the gulls were pretty normal looking. The third >was GREEN!! About the color of a package of Wrigley's Doublemint gum. > The color was uniform -- even the feet. It was a little darker under >the wings. > The most believable explanation I've heard is that it was done on >purpose for tracking reasons -- sort of like banding. > Anybody heard of this practice? Honest; I only had one beer! I have seen a green gull once myself (and it wasn't sitting on top of a pink elephant either). The color didn't look very synthetic, and then I noticed that the scum on the water edge was a similar color. So I concluded it had been bathing in dirty water. I didn't go and investigate, it looked too disgusting. But it (the dirty scum) might have been algae rather than chemical. If you can get that kind of algae soup in salt water. I forget, but I think it was on the Atlantic coast of Florida some years ago. If your gull was too synthetic a color, though, it may have been through direct human action, meaning, they colored the gull rather than just coloring the water. Daan Sandee Supercomputer Computations Research Institute Florida State University, Tallahassee, FL sandee@sun6.scri.fsu.edu
niemi@astroatc.UUCP (Bob Niemi) (09/15/89)
Referenced article talked about a green gull, see with white ones, where the color looked artificial. On a duck hunting trip to the Mississippi River, my son noted a fuschia (sp) duck, and asked what kind of duck was colored like that. I didn't see it, and pooh-poohed his sighting. The pool in which we hunt (Ferryville, WI) is a major stopping point for migrating canvasback (which, because of declining population are protected from hunting here. The presence of large numbers of canvasback makes duck hunting an even bigger challenge--one must make absolute positive identification.) Later, scanning the pool, looking at the thousands of cans' I spotted two additional fuschia ducks (they were cans'). A Federal warden confirmed they were dyed for migration tracking. Bob Niemi, Astronautics, Madison, WI ...uwvax!astroatc!niemi