Hi All, Just thought I'd let everyone know that I have some further pictures of the Common Gull (as found by Nick Bonomo last week) up on my blog. Some nice shots kindly sent to me by Meredith Sampson which highlight the wing pattern, as well as a nice comparison shot next to one of the many Ring-bills that were there at Bradley Point: http://underclearskies.wordpress.com/2009/03/25/common-gull-more-pictures-meredith-sampson/ Post walk on Sunday I popped down to look for the gull again but with no joy, although there was the previously reported Black-headed Gull (thanks to John Oshlick). The BH Gull had already developed its black hood which helped pick it out from the Bonaparte's (alhough confusingly there was one Boney that had obviously started to develop it's hood early). Early in the season the earlier development of the dark hood by the BH Gull can help focus your search when looking through big flocks of these small gulls. Regards, Luke Tiller, Wilton' www.sunrisebirding.com

Hi all - Here I am in TX, missing all these great CT gull findings by Nick et al. Great Work! Luke's mention of the Black-headed Gull reminds me of one that was in Old Saybrook back in the 80's. It went from winter plumage to full hood in 10 days! I photo documented the entire change - very cool. When the bird was in winter plumage, the lighter mantle was usually pretty easy to spot if they were all sitting together on a mudflat, and in flight it had a plumper body and appeared longer-winged. Of course the underwing pattern is distinctive, but not always easily visible. Clay Taylor Calallen, TX (Corpus Christi) ctaylor@att.net ----- Original Message ----- From: <streatham2003@aol.com> To: <ctbirds@lists.ctbirding.org> Sent: Thursday, March 26, 2009 9:44 AM Subject: [CT Birds] Additional Common Gull Pictures > Hi All, > > Just thought I'd let everyone know that I have some further pictures of > the Common Gull (as found by Nick Bonomo last week) up on my blog. Some > nice shots kindly sent to me by Meredith Sampson which highlight the wing > pattern, as well as a nice comparison shot next to one of the many > Ring-bills that were there at Bradley Point: > http://underclearskies.wordpress.com/2009/03/25/common-gull-more-pictures-meredith-sampson/ > Post walk on Sunday I popped down to look for the gull again but with no > joy, although there was the previously reported Black-headed Gull (thanks > to John Oshlick). The BH Gull had already developed its black hood which > helped pick it out from the Bonaparte's (alhough confusingly there was one > Boney that had obviously started to develop it's hood early). Early in the > season the earlier development of the dark hood by the BH Gull can help > focus your search when looking through big flocks of these small gulls. > > Regards, > > Luke Tiller, Wilton' > www.sunrisebirding.com > _______________________________________________ > This list is provided by the Connecticut Ornithological Association (COA) > for the discussion of birds and birding in Connecticut. > For subscription information visit > http://lists.ctbirding.org/mailman/listinfo/ctbirds_lists.ctbirding.org

Hi Folks Don't let the Black head on the Black-headed Gull fool you Last year, at Holly Pond in Stamford, I photographed a Black-headed, Black-headed Gull. and took general pictures of the rest of the flock One of the pictures contains 3 Black-headed Gulls in winter plumage. So in reality there were 4 birds! Dennis Varza Fairfield On Mar 26, 2009, at 10:14 AM, Clay Taylor wrote: > Hi all - > > Here I am in TX, missing all these great CT gull findings by Nick > et al. Great Work! > > Luke's mention of the Black-headed Gull reminds me of one that was > in Old Saybrook back in the 80's. It went from winter plumage to > full hood in 10 days! I photo documented the entire change - > very cool. > > When the bird was in winter plumage, the lighter mantle was usually > pretty easy to spot if they were all sitting together on a mudflat, > and in flight it had a plumper body and appeared longer-winged. > Of course the underwing pattern is distinctive, but not always > easily visible. > > Clay Taylor > Calallen, TX (Corpus Christi) > ctaylor@att.net > > ----- Original Message ----- From: <streatham2003@aol.com> > To: <ctbirds@lists.ctbirding.org> > Sent: Thursday, March 26, 2009 9:44 AM > Subject: [CT Birds] Additional Common Gull Pictures > > >> Hi All, >> >> Just thought I'd let everyone know that I have some further >> pictures of the Common Gull (as found by Nick Bonomo last week) up >> on my blog. Some nice shots kindly sent to me by Meredith Sampson >> which highlight the wing pattern, as well as a nice comparison >> shot next to one of the many Ring-bills that were there at Bradley >> Point: http://underclearskies.wordpress.com/2009/03/25/common-gull- >> more-pictures-meredith-sampson/ Post walk on Sunday I popped down >> to look for the gull again but with no joy, although there was the >> previously reported Black-headed Gull (thanks to John Oshlick). >> The BH Gull had already developed its black hood which helped pick >> it out from the Bonaparte's (alhough confusingly there was one >> Boney that had obviously started to develop it's hood early). >> Early in the season the earlier development of the dark hood by >> the BH Gull can help focus your search when looking through big >> flocks of these small gulls. >> >> Regards, >> >> Luke Tiller, Wilton' >> www.sunrisebirding.com >> _______________________________________________ >> This list is provided by the Connecticut Ornithological >> Association (COA) for the discussion of birds and birding in >> Connecticut. >> For subscription information visit http://lists.ctbirding.org/ >> mailman/listinfo/ctbirds_lists.ctbirding.org > > > _______________________________________________ > This list is provided by the Connecticut Ornithological Association > (COA) for the discussion of birds and birding in Connecticut. > For subscription information visit http://lists.ctbirding.org/ > mailman/listinfo/ctbirds_lists.ctbirding.org