[mou] Slaty-backed Gull Departure from Pt. Douglas, Washington County?

[Dennis/Barbara Martin]

Happened to stop by Point Douglas after 3:00 today and watched the rest of
the gulls leave the two open water spots in the lake.  At 3:30 about 20 of
the gulls with the Slaty-backed Gull headed south on the St Croix past the
bridge and out of sight but with a few seconds the Slaty-backed Gull doubled
back and rejoined the few gulls left on the open water holes.  At 3:59 the
last 11 gulls with the Slaty-backed Gull following took flight heading to
the west and Spring Lake and I hoped Black Dog.  The went far enough south
to cross into Dakota County (a county now with two different slaty-backed
records in the same year) but generally continued flying west until they
went out of sight.

I went to Black Dog and joined Jim Mattson watching to see which gulls came
down behind the plant at dusk.  But as generally happens with me the gulls
all landed on the ice edge on West Black Dog Lake and were far enough away
that none were identifiable.  There were not that many gulls, probably less
than 100.

In past years in late December and early January gulls would feed south of
the bridge at Point Douglas and were thought to go back to Black Dog at
night.  It will be interesting to see if that pattern holds this late in
January.  At 3:00 today there were no gulls south of the bridge chasing the
goldeneyes, etc., although I didn't check Veterans Park.  And where did the
Slaty-backed Gull go?  Was it at Black Dog and we were unable to see it?
Did it land at Spring Lake?  I know that some waterfowl spends the night at
Spring Lake and feeds further south in Dakota County around Vermillion
during the day.  Remember the gyr hunting that waterfowl.  But you rarely
see gulls south of Spring Lake.

A couple of days ago there were 250 gulls at Pt Douglas, including the
Slaty-backed, two different Glaucous. an adult Thayers, and a variety of
misc waterfowl.  Wonder where they went?  Keep your eyes open.

Denny

Dennis and Barbara Martin
dbmartin@skypoint.com