gpasq@picuxa.UUCP (Greg Pasquariello X1190) (12/01/88)
We had a rather disappointing trip to the Jersey shore this past weekend. Not much was around, and we did not see a Redhead. Damn, that was very possibly my last shot at it this year! Some highlights: 1. A "Kumlien's" form Iceland Gull. This bird was on Wreck Pond at lunch, and caused my peanut butter sandwich to wreak havoc with my mustache. 2. Parasitic Jaegers galore! I have never seen so many in one place. We had nine sightings of at _least_ three different birds (all three were visible at once). The best one was the adult light phase that chased a Bonaparte's gull right up on the beach by us. 3. A third year Lesser Black-backed Gull. This was at Shark river inlet among many herring gulls, and a few Great Black- backs. This is becoming a regular bird here in the east, and is the fourth one I have found this year. About the Thayer's gull business... I have been studying my gulls for the last few years at the Hackensack Meadowlands, and have come to the conclusion that there is no such thing as an identifiable Thayer's Gull (sorry Mike :-)). The Iceland Gull complex is indeed complex, and I have yet to see one that can be proven to be a Thayer's, assuming the species even exists. There seems to be so much overlap between dark "Kumlien's", and light "Thayer's" type birds that I don't see how _any_ individuals can be assigned to either "species". I feel that they can be assigned to a type, but that is all. I am not even going to mention hybrids! Ah, well, there is my two cents worth. All discussion about this will be read, but all flames will be used as fodder for my /dev/null :-). Good Birding! Greg -- ============================================================================= By the time they had diminished from Greg Pasquariello AT&T PMTC 50 to 8, the dwarves began to suspect Hungry. att!picuxa!gpasq =============================================================================