[EBB Sightings] WW Scoter and interesing Gull; Berkeley Marina

I took an evening walk at Berkeley Marina and was pleasantly surprised
to see a female White-winged Scoter; A bird I hardly ever see anymore. 
She was with other scoters just north of that breakwater which runs
perpendicular to the shore (where the Pelagic Cormorants nested).

As I headed back to my car (and the light was, unfortunately dimming) I
saw an interesting gull foraging on the mudflat. I wish I could easily
transfer what I see in the Slaty-back images Al Jaramillo and Joe
Morlan have posted, but alas... not so easy. Especially without
Westerns nearby.

The terminal third of the bill was black, with the black of both
mandibles sloping back towards the the center (where mandibles meet).

The mantle was quite dark;  Easily as dark as L.o. wymani of southern
Cal. The light was dimming, I'll admit, but there was a close by
Ring-bill for some sense of comparison. On the folded wing, the
secondary tips formed a broad white band. The head and neck were
streaked all over in gray. Not marbled in suffused gray like
Glaucus-winged or GW-W hybrids, but the gray roughly seemed to form
streaking. The birds head had that raptorial 'fierce' look one might
see in a Herring Gull.

I wish there had been Westerns close by but the nearest ones were a
good 50 ft away. The bird was foraging on something in the mud (as was
a nearby Ring-bill) and the legs and tail had mud on them. 

This was north of the fenced off 'Meadow' area but before the grassy
area. Not as far as the left turn along the evergreen trees and the
park.

   Rusty Scalf
   Berkeley
 



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