Sunday, March 12, 2006

Albatross?

This item was in today's Post.

ALEXANDRIA, Union Street South, 700 block, March 1. Animal control was asked to pick up an albatross that had a leg stuck in a piling near a dock on the Potomac River. With the help of the Alexandria Fire Department, animal control took a boat to the piling and caught the bird, which had a fishhook stuck in its leg. The albatross was taken to an animal hospital for treatment, then transferred to a wildlife rehabilitator.
I am guessing that this was one of the common gulls and not an albatross, which would be an extreme rarity here. Usually albatrosses and other seabirds only make an appearance here in the wake of hurricanes or other significant storms. I hope it recovers.

Update: A post on MDOsprey confirms that it was a great black-backed gull, not an albatross.