Re: weird sightings

["Cliff and Lisa Weisse" <october at ida dot net>]

Richard,

The official Utah Checklist lists Sabine's Gull as "rare",
which is defined as "found infrequently but annually...".
There is no accepted record for Western Gull in Utah (your
report of multiple Western Gulls earlier this year not
withstanding).  Given that there are NO records for Western
Gull and Sabine's is annual, Sabine's is not rarer than
Western Gull in Utah.  Whimbrel and Red Knot (I assume the
spelling you use, Red Knoot, was a typo and is not intended
to poke fun at someone that misspelled the name in a
previous post?) are also annual.  Don't know about the
Whooping Crane in NY but I wonder if it's part of the effort
to establish a breeding population in the eastern US
(breeding in Wisconsin and wintering in Florida I think?)?

I wasn't aware that Mark had given you ID assistance when
you reported the Western Gulls but I recall that I spent a
considerable amount of time trying to explain (to the best
of my knowledge) how to separate them from other gulls, like
California and Western x Glaucous-winged or other hybrids,
which is extremely difficult to say the least.  I'm sure
you're aware that all three species you reference below are
much easier to ID than Western Gull.  However if you're
still having trouble with the Western Gull ID (or any of the
other species you mentioned) and Mark isn't available I'll
be glad to help you out if I can.  I'm certainly no expert
on the subject but I'll try to answer any questions I'm
comfortable with.

Good birding.
Cliff

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Richard Wood" <rwoodphd@msn.com>
To: <birdtalk@utahbirds.org>
Sent: Saturday, August 20, 2005 10:01 PM
Subject: weird sightings


| >Date: Mon, 15 Aug 2005 06:27:09 -0600
|
| Hi all,
|
| People are reporting weird sightings all over!  Red Knoots
and Whimbrels
| and even a Sabine's Gull!    Even more incredible, there's
been a
| sighting of a Whooping Crane in upstate New York.
|
| Where's Mark when you need him?  (Sabine's Gulls are even
rarer around
| these parts than Western Gulls, no?)  Perhaps he's put his
ID asistance
| kit away for the winter....
|
| Good grief,
| Richard
|
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