About 8am yesterday (Friday 21 April) I was at Allan Treman State Marine Park in Ithaca, hoping to see migrating terns, but I didn’t see any. Nor did I see anything unusual on the lake, where the already warm air over the chilly water caused shimmer which severely limited how far one could focus clearly. I was scanning the Red Lighthouse Breakwater, which is currently under a couple inches of water due to the summer lake level, and having dutifully counted the Double-crested Cormorants as I panned one direction, I was counting gulls (mostly Ring-billed) as I panned back the other way. Among them was a small gull who was pale gray & white below with an all-black head. I hadn’t noticed it on the previous pass moments earlier, and I initially assumed it was a breeding plumage Bonaparte’s Gull. But when it fluttered up to shift its position a few feet, the wings were wrong. Instead of there being a long contrasting triangle on top from the leading primaries being white, it was plain pale gray all the way across the back and top of the wings, without any contrast even at the wingtip. And the underside of the wing had a charcoal cast, darker than any shadow, although the edges graded to gray. Clearly, this was a breeding plumage Little Gull, which is rare enough that I hadn’t been thinking about it, and I noticed that the black on the head came farther down the back of the neck than it should on a Bonaparte’s. I shared my scope briefly with a passing acquaintance while I texted a brief rare bird alert that a breeding plumage Little Gull was on the Red Lighthouse Breakwater. When I looked back, the Little Gull was gone. A quick look around with binoculars and scope didn’t reveal it, so I sent a second text that it had flown but was probably still nearby. Indeed, Tom Auer had arrived quickly at Stewart Park, and just over 20 minutes later texted an alert that the Little Gull was flying far offshore with some Bonaparte’s Gulls. They would’ve been far easier to see and distinguish in flight than on the water given the viewing conditions. After Tom’s first text I saw my only Bonaparte’s Gull, which was flying north. And Tom sent a follow-up alert after 20 minutes that the Bonaparte’s & Little Gull appeared to have all headed north. I think we were both very fortunate to have seen the rarity as this all took place in less than 3/4 of an hour
- - Dave Nutter -- 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/ --
