Both the pond and hillside were loaded with gulls when I arrived at 11am to the Madison County landfill on Buyea Rd (south of Wampsville).
Highlight was a 1st-winter gull presumed to be a smallish Herring, with slim, long, all-yellow bill. Olsen/Larsson in "Gulls of N.A., Europe, and Asia" have a brief discussion of abnormal bills on page 18, and show a 1st-cycle Herring with long, decurved, mostly yellow bill. Comments welcome if anyone thinks it could be something else. I thought the gull was within the (wide) spectrum of Herring Gull. Other highlights included 4 Lesser Black-backed including a 2nd-winter bird with black bill and yellow tip. No serious rarity candidates were seen, but after a Peregrine passed at noon many of the gulls departed. I had completed a number of decent scans but had not looked carefully at every search feature yet. The gulls stayed away for 1.5 hours then a few returned, but the cold front had passed and I called it a day at the four-hour mark. The link below has photos of the day's highlights, including a video of the Peregrine-induced gull cloud, Lesser Black-backed, and curious Herring Gull. Apologies in advance for the disorganized state of my Flickr page. http://www.flickr.com/photos/22183060@N08/sets/72157629278228883/with/6859603787/ David Wheeler N Syracuse, NY Madison County Landfill, Madison, US-NY Feb 11, 2012 11:00 AM - 3:00 PM Protocol: Stationary Comments: Four long hours. Pond and hillside loaded when I arrived. Good observing conditions with temp around freezing and little wind. Imm. Peregrine flushed everything at noon and it took 1.5 hours for a few gulls to return. Cold front passed about noon also and it was bitter and windy afterward. Listened to SU game against UConn on radio while waiting for gulls to return. 11 species (+1 other taxa) Canada Goose 2 Red-tailed Hawk 2 Peregrine Falcon 1 immature Ring-billed Gull 15 pure guesswork Herring Gull 1500 rough-order-of-magnitude only Iceland Gull 6 or more; 1st-winter plus one adult Lesser Black-backed Gull 4 3 adults (two relatively white-headed, one heavily streaked) and one 2nd-winter with black bill and yellow tip. Photos. Glaucous Gull 2 Both 1st-winter; no sign of the smallish adult bird seen on Tuesday Great Black-backed Gull 150 gull sp. 1 1st-winter; long, slim, all-yellow bill; presumed to be a Herring Gull with abberant bill, ref. Olsen/Larsson page 18 discussion of abnormal bills, and Fig. 7 on the same page. Photos. American Crow X European Starling 1000 guesstimate -- Cayugabirds-L List Info: http://www.NortheastBirding.com/CayugabirdsWELCOME http://www.NortheastBirding.com/CayugabirdsRULES http://www.NortheastBirding.com/CayugabirdsSubscribeConfigurationLeave.htm ARCHIVES: 1) http://www.mail-archive.com/cayugabirds-l@cornell.edu/maillist.html 2) http://www.surfbirds.com/birdingmail/Group/Cayugabirds 3) http://birdingonthe.net/mailinglists/CAYU.html Please submit your observations to eBird: http://ebird.org/content/ebird/ --
