[Tweeters] King County Black-headed Gull, Dumas Bay Centre

[PENNY & DAVID KOYAMA]

Tweets,
Noting that there hadn't been a positive dBird report on the BH Gull since 4/3, David and I couldn't waste the sunny afternoon, so we headed south to give it a try.  We stopped first at Saltwater State Park, where there were scads of Bonys and Short-billed (I really want to say Mew) Gulls. but we couldn't pull out a Black-headed.  Our next stop was Dumas Bay Centre, which, unlike Saltwater, crawling with spring-break families, had few visitors.  One cannot get to the water from this site, but we could look down from the lawn at a smallish group of gulls (no BHGU) and moved on to the fenced area, where we readied to scope the huge flock, even though David announced "This will be impossible!")   Not a gull expert, but a real "Where's Waldo" expert at spotting the "unusual," it only took him a minute to spot the only big, black-headed gull.  We made careful study, and noted that it was smaller than the Mews (ouch-Short-billed) Gull, but considerably bigger than the Bonaparte's.!
   So it's still around.

Questions for Matt B, Ryan M and Co.--is this one BHGU that flies amongst BOGu flocks, or is/was there a Saltwater St Pk BHGU and a Dumas BHGU?  Also, not being familiar with this area, is it the same gull seen at another eBird pindrop at "Dumas Bay Park?" Or maybe this pin drop is just a different, probably beach access, to this large gull flock?   From our scope views, it looked like a first summer gull, or is it just in an adult in a molt process?  Thanks!
Penny Koyama, Bothell
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