Date: 3/13/26 7:35 pm From: Robert O'Brien via Tweeters <tweeters...> Subject: Re: [Tweeters] A Gull Named Bob
AreIs Bob's photos available online somewhere? Seems intriguing.
Best Regards, Bob from Portland
Or, preferably, send Bob down here.
On Fri, Mar 13, 2026 at 7:18 PM Carol Riddell via Tweeters <
<tweeters...> wrote:
> Hey Tweets,
>
> Okay. Showing my age here. How many still alive and still subscribing to
> Tweeters remember the ID controversy of Bob? Marv Breece does because his
> excellent photo of Bob appears on page 67 of Gene Hunn’s Birding in Seattle
> and King County (2d ed.) with some accompanying text on page 68. Bob
> appeared each winter between 2004 and 2009, in both the Kent Valley and the
> south end of Lake Washington (Cedar River mouth). Bob always inspired
> lively debates over his/her ID. Iceland nominate glaucoides? Thayer’s?
> Kumlien’s? Runt Glaucous Gull? Those were fun times to listen in on the
> debates of local experts. I don’t think Bob ever got a definitive ID, but
> Gene Hunn did get in the last word! Those were good times when Tweeters was
> the definitive place to share and discuss birding information. Now we have
> eBird, Facebook groups, WhatsApp groups by county, and Tweeters still
> limping along. I rue the balkanization of our sharing and discussing birds.
> When everyone came to the discussion table at Tweeters, it allowed new
> birders to benefit from more experienced birders and for lots of people to
> get to know each other statewide.
>
> It is fun to see that even an expert such as Amar Ayyash is reluctant to
> give a definitive ID based on the Hadley-Robinson photo of the Cedar River
> mouth gull. But such fun to puzzle over the photo and to be humbled by gull
> identification. At least Amar did not offer the possibility of a runt
> Glaucous Gull! It is an Iceland Gull of some race. Thanks so much Jane, for
> sharing the photo, the various Tweeters opinions, as well as that of Amar.
> And I second Jane’s recommendation for his excellent 2024 Gull Guide.
>
> Good Birding,
>
> Carol Riddell
> Edmonds, WA
> cariddellwa at gmail dot com
> _______________________________________________
> Tweeters mailing list
> <Tweeters...>
> http://mailman11.u.washington.edu/mailman/listinfo/tweeters >
