We hopped out of the van near the southeast shore of the Salton Sea. Despite the early spring date of our visit, we sweltered in the Sonoran Desert sun at nearly 200 feet below "sea level." The briny stench that is often attributed to this super-saline lake blew in our faces with the hot western breeze. As we approached the beach we observed a healthy concentration of gulls loafing not far from the water¹s edge. We dropped our tripod-mounted spotting scopes from our shoulders and began scanning through the flock. We sought a glimpse at the Yellow-footed Gull, a specialty of the Salton Sea and a species difficult to find anywhere else away from Baja California.

Yellow-footed gull photo links to its source, a site about birds by Eldon Caldwell, who is associated with the Imperial Valley College

Many birders cringe at the prospect of identifying gulls. Non-birders simply
lump them all under the moniker "sea gulls." However, many gulls spend
little or none of their lives at sea, and with more than 20 gull species
occurring regularly in North America (at least a dozen in Oregon), any
birder who wishes to maintain a list of the all birds they observe must one
day face the gull ID challenge. A late summer visit to the Salton Sea may
offer diagnostic looks at an adult, or four-year-old, Yellow-footed Gull,
making identification fairly straightforward. Birders visiting California¹s
largest lake any other time of year must accept the fact that they may only
find immature "yellow-foots," bringing the fits that accompany the
identification of nearly all immature gulls.

Our initial pass through this flock of 30-some birds produced only
California, Ring-billed and Herring gulls of varying ages, representing the
most expected spring species in the region. Within a couple minutes,
however, Ronda drew our attention to a noticeably smaller gull standing
among its larger cousins. At first glance, the bird could have been a
Bonaparte¹s Gull, a fairly common wintering species in the southern United
States, but Ronda knew better. She had seen plenty of Bonaparte¹s and she
knew this bird was different.

Ronda is an experienced field birder, with lots of data collection and
survey experience under her belt. She knows well how to accurately diagnose
a puzzling observation. But even those in our group with less experience
knew we faced a challenge. We all saw something different than the other
birds in the flock. We saw something different than other gulls we had
observed. We saw a bird that did not fit the images stored in our brains. By
acknowledging these facts, we all took the first step in identifying this
unusual bird. It did not have to be a gull. It could have been a warbler or
a sparrow or a raptor. We could have been at the Salton Sea or in our own
backyards. The setting and subject did not matter. What did matter was the
process we used to identify the bird.

The mystery bird¹s thin black bill was just too tiny for a typical
Bonaparte¹s. The hot weather caused the bird to pant frequently, giving us
clear views of the orangey inner mouth lining, also something we would not
expect in a Bonaparte¹s. The bird appeared squatty, with short legs that
seemed much redder than those of a typical spring Bonaparte¹s Gull. Its
short red legs even hinted of a Red-legged Kittiwake, a true "sea" gull that
breeds on Alaska¹s Pribilof Islands; but this species would be extremely
rare inland or as far south as the Salton Sea. Before we even considered
such an ultra-rarity, we had to confidently eliminate all the more common
possibilities, especially the Bonaparte¹s Gull.

Backyard birders often observe aberrant individuals of common species at
their feeders. They flip through their field guides with excitement and
occasionally report a rare species before first eliminating the commonly
expected birds. Identifying birds can be frustrating, but identifying rare
birds brings a rush of excitement to routine observations. For the purpose
of documenting bird movements and population changes, accurate reporting
cannot hold enough importance. Accurate reporting sometimes requires
detailed observations and a stricter than usual analysis of the subject.

Typical winter-plumaged Bonaparte¹s Gulls display a relatively distinct
black spot behind their dark eye, contrasting with the all white head and
neck. In late March, one must consider that individual birds may have
already started to acquire their breeding plumage. In the case of a
Bonaparte¹s Gull, a nesting bird will exhibit a completely black hood, so a
transitioning bird could have any amount of black between the simple spot
and the all-dark hood. Our subject bird displayed what could have been such
a transitional plumage, but the redder and shorter than usual legs, and the
tiny bill with orangey inner mouth lining necessitated additional scrutiny.
Another feature of our mystery gull was an unusually chunky, compact body
shape with a short tail. Standing on the beach, its folded wingtips appeared
to extend just short of the end of the tail. Bonaparte¹s Gulls tend to
appear more slender with relatively long wings and the wingtips extending
well past the end of the tail.

With four spotting scopes on the subject and four observers scrutinizing its
features, we realized we might be dealing with a rare bird. A fifth observer
grabbed the gull identification manual. Such specialized references can make
or break a positive ID. Every birder should own at least one basic birding
field guide; two are recommended for many field conditions, as the drawings
or photos in different publications may vary. Birders who spend an
increasing amount of time in the field need to go beyond the basic field
guide. Some groups of birds, such as raptors or gulls, pose special
identification challenges that simply cannot be addressed inside the limited
pages of a general field guide.

Initial review of the four or five field guides present led us to believe we
might have a basic-, or winter-plumaged, Little Gull before us. That¹s not
just a "little" gull, but the species named Little Gull (the oddities of
ornithological nomenclature often fetter the layperson¹s simplest
communication about birds).

After reviewing the descriptions and drawings of Bonaparte¹s Gull in our
field guides, we turned to the book titled Gulls, by P.J. Grant. Grant
dedicates a number of pages to each North American gull species, allowing
for close scrutiny of a bird¹s subtler features. We reviewed the Bonaparte¹s
section and noted the absence of some important features, opening the door
to explore an alternate diagnosis.

While the four observers watched the bird, the fifth read aloud the key
identifying features of a basic-plumaged Little Gull. We could not observe
flight style or underwing pattern due to the gull¹s posture standing on the
beach, but we verified nearly all of the relevant features of a loafing
individual. Our increased confidence shifted us into documentation mode. We
knew from experience that a Little Gull would be extremely unusual this far
west and south; a small North American population breeds at the Great Lakes
and winters on the North Atlantic Coast. We repeated the key features from
sight as the reader compared them to the description in Grant. We studied
this bird for what seemed like an hour, but it stayed only a few minutes.

Suddenly the gull took wing. Most of the group saw the liftoff and noted
more key features that stood out in the brief moment of the flight
observation: no black wingtips; short wings; clear white trailing edge to
the wings; and little or no black in the tail. The bird disappeared to the
north, out of sight. We gathered and discussed the bird and the experience.
We reviewed our field guides and compared them to Grant and to our notes on
the bird. 

After an unsuccessful attempt to relocate our Little Gull, we found a shaded
picnic table and completed rare bird report forms we had stashed for such an
occasion. We will submit the forms to the California Rare Bird Records
Committee for their review, and we will be prepared for them to either
accept or reject the sighting as valid. Regardless of the committee¹s
evaluation, we all grew as birders during that brief encounter. We honed our
observation skills and practiced communication and teamwork. We tolerated
less than ideal field conditions for as long as it took to finish the job.
We practiced interpreting our published references and translating our
thoughts into our own published record. And perhaps most importantly, we
reinforced our appreciation for gulls. Never again will this birder visit a
beach or lakeshore to observe just another gull.

-- 
Stephen Shunk
Community Solutions
Sisters, OR

541-549-8826 (home)
541-408-1753 (cell)
541-549-8937 (fax)

Oregon Cascades Birding Trail 
Oregon Important Bird Areas www.audubonportland.org

© 2003 Stephen Shunk