I think Omar Khayyam summed the Cooktown gull ID puzzle for most of
us when he wrote;
Myself when young did eagerly frequent
Doctor and Saint, and heard great Argument
About it and about: but evermore
Came out by the same Door as in I went.
The Rubiyat: Quatrain 27
Carl Clifford
On 22/02/2008, at 6:06 AM, david taylor wrote:
My spin on things.........( ps - I sent this once already, but it
appeared not to arrive in birding-aus - apologies if it does appear
twice) David Taylor
To mull over a gull
Nobody seems to know,
Though we know it's not a crow!
They just cant work it out,
Much debate and nagging doubt
It's our vagrant gull,
Over whom the experts mull!
In Cooktown, on the far-off coast
He sits alone upon his post.
The seasoned twitchers do arrive
No rain, no flood will stop their drive.
To see this bird and earn a tick,
Whilst making poorer birders sick.
But heres the problem, heres the twist,
What do they add to their list?
Is it Steppe, Slaty-backed or Thayers?
Time to call in the serious players!
Advice pours in thick and fast,
The technical detail leaves some aghast!
Maybe Vega or even Herring,
The outer webs will have a bearing!
This bird is shot from every angle,
Then over the snaps the experts wrangle,
For a while Mongolian takes the stage
But lately Vega's all the rage!
The problem is this gulls a teen,
His plumage lacks that adult gleen,
His unknown home he's given the slip
And did he fly, or jump a ship?
When all else fails there's DNA
But getting that we'd have to slay!
Not an option we'd all concur,
And so the answer remains a blur.
But no doubt in the end they will proclaim
Our vagrant gull now has a name!
One day the twitchers will smile and sing
With the tick BARC's final nod will bring!
David Taylor
Brisbane
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