Among the gulls at Sage Beach today were two birds that look to me like second year Mew Gulls. One of them had black on its tail he other had a pure white tail. I noticed in Sibley’s that the European population of the Mew Gull has second year birds with white tail feathers, while the American form is shown with black on the tail feathers. However, Sibley’s also indicates that the Common Mew Gulls that have been reported in Alaska are from the Siberian population, but there is not a picture of that form. Are there any gull experts out there that might be able to help me with this? Do the short-billed (American) population birds sometimes have all white tail feathers?

Most of the day was spent inside, but I did go for a short walk through Totem Park.

Weather: There was still little wind today, but the clear skies had given way to gray overcast. I did not see any ice on the water this morning, but the ground was still frozen. A few small snow flakes fell shortly before noon, but by later this afternoon there was a light rain falling.

Birds: On the way to the park, I stopped and looked at several gulls and a couple of eagles off of Sage Beach. One of the student workers in the hatchery was dipping out morts (dead salmon fry) from the ponds in the hatchery yard. She would drop these into a shoot where they were washed down to a water outflow. The gulls would then fight over the snack. One of the eagles made a half-hearted attempted, but I think the potential reward was probably too small to try grabbing ahead of the gulls (who had the advantage of being able to swim on the water to wait for the fish).