Sorry for the delay, things happened. People have a subjective sense of distance. What is far to one is close to another. In college, local students didn’t think much about driving 30 miles for a burger. Living in Fairfield, my mother wasn’t much concerned about going to Stratford for Shopping. But Norwalk, “Do we have to go all the way out there?” Near and far is as much about habit as actual distance. When comparing sense of distance to birds, “As the crow flies” has as much perception as truth to it. Wings allow the coverage of distances in small amounts of time that we often underestimate. We see a bird in an area and expect it to be there, or the general area, all the time. The use of tracking devices has helped, but is still a problem for the average person. I read a paper about winter eagles in Maine and they found it was not unusual for some to spend the day on Long Island and still return to roost at night. We see a bunch of gulls on Long Beach in Stratford, we expect them to hang out there all the time, or maybe over to Seaside Park in Bridgeport. Is it really that hard for them to travel to New Haven Harbor, Norwalk Islands, or Port Jefferson for the day? In trying to understand the interaction between the gulls and barnacle larvae we wanted as many observations of gulls as possible to see how the observed distribution is different than during a non- barnacle episode. We has observations as far west as Greenwich and as far east as Madison. Plankton Feeding Gulls were seen in the area around Charles Island in Milford. Observers estimated numbers to be less than 5,000 and rather scattered. Further east smaller numbers were seen in West Haven near the Milford Border. In New Haven Harbor no concentrations were observed, In Guilford off Shell Beach a small group of less than 500 were seen, and none further east. Last Year there were 10’s of thousands of gulls off the headlands of Stratford, Lordship to Black Rock Harbor in Bridgeport. This year birds were scarce in Lordship on Friday 16 Mar., but on the 17th numbers were low in the morning but increased in the afternoon to an estimated 3,000 birds. From Chimon Island and west to Stamford, Shippan Pt. there were well over 10,000 birds on Friday 16th but were gone the next day. The peak of activity was in the area between Penfield Reef in Fairfield and Cockenoe Island in Westport. Overall there were well over 30,000 birds present. Observers in the morning reported gulls close to shore in the morning and drifting further out in the afternoon. This indicates the plume of larvae were being pulled out with the tide. The next day and increasing the the next several days, were record temperatures and a lot of morning fog and haze which inhibited further observations. The barnacle event started on Friday in the Greenwich-Stamford then shifted the next day to the Westport-Fairfield area. East of there only small plumes were seen in Milford and Guilford. The Gulls observed appear to follow the plumes from great distances. So, on those days when the gulls “disappear” from the beaches and are not seen directly off shore were expected, are well likely to be miles away. The distribution of the barnacle plumes are centered in the area from Stratford to Norwalk. Beyond this area they can be found in small numbers. As to when they occur is still problematical. For this event there was satellite data on Chlorophyl-a. On the 16th. There was no measurable Chlorophyl-a. while on the 18th, the western sound was dark with it! There are many kinds of algae with many kinds of Chlorophyl. Chlorophyl-a is the bright green color found in most of the common algae. Because it is colorful it can be measured by the intensity of the color. This past weekend, Drifts of gulls continued to be seen off Fairfield, but smaller numbers. I would guess that The gulls would have been of Stratford last week if they could be seen. Now, the final phase of the event should be seen. On jettys and rocky shore one will see the gulls scraping the rocks with the sides of their bills to get at the tasty tidbits. Another thought on my mind is “How do Boanapartes Gulls fit into this?” Considering their small size one would expect them to really like barnacles. However, their migration in the state tends to be at the tail-end of the “season” so would only occasionally be experienced by them. When they do meet, they are rarely seen feeding! Is there something out there they like better? Dennis Varza Fairfield