[nysbirds-l] Nickerson Beach (Nassau County) - 3 July 2011 - Lesser Black-backed Gulls (high count), Gull-billed Terns
Apologies for the delayed report. I've read the recent reports from Bobby Berlingeri and Sy Schiff about Lesser Black-backed Gulls at Nickerson Beach with interest. On Saturday, 3 July, Tom Burke, Gail Benson & I visited Nickerson Beach, primarily to look at the nesting terns and Black Skimmers, and to see if we could relocate the Gull-billed Tern that had been seen sporadically since spring. The most remarkable aspect of our visit, however, turned out to be a congregation of LESSER BLACK-BACKED GULLS on the beach in between the two tern nesting areas. Tom Burke initially spotted an immature Lesser Black-backed Gull in flight when most of the gulls and terns were spooked into the air for some reason. As we watched it, the gull circled and landed back on the beach in a small group of gulls. Looking through the flock, we quickly realized that most of these were also Lesser Black-backed Gulls - about a dozen! After we looked through these for a minute or two the entire group flew up and re-congregated into a larger group a slighter further east on the beach. When we looked over to this group we realized that there were even more Lesser Black-backs in this group. We moved over to a better vantage point, and Tom and I carefully looked at each bird simultaneously to confirm the final count - an astonishing FORTY-THREE (43) Lesser Black-backed Gulls! At this time the flock contained about 60 Great Black-backed Gulls and about 10 Herring Gulls. We categorized the birds into three rough age groups - "first-summer" types (36); "second summer" types, with more or less gray mantles, brownish wing coverts and primaries, largely black bills (2); "third/fourth summer" types, with gray mantles and wing coverts, largely white head and body plumage and mostly yellow bills, primaries black but without white tips (5). Some of this latter group looked nearly like full adults but with some black on the bill and no white primary tips. As we were watching the flock, birds would pick up individually and in small groups and fly off, mainly to the east. When we left the vicinity of the eastern tern nesting area there were only six Lesser Black-backs remaining, and by around 9 a.m. all the gulls had left the beach, probably due to increased beachgoer traffic. I haven't done extensive research, but as far as we're aware this is the highest single count recorded in New York, by a significant margin. In general, there seems to be more summering Lesser Black-backed Gulls along the coast than usual. Also of interest at Nickerson Beach was the presence of not one, but two GULL-BILLED TERNS. These were seen flying over and around the western tern nesting enclosure, occasionally with both in the air together. As we were watching them, we saw some parasitic behavior, where a Gull-billed Tern would dive down on a Common Tern returning to the colony with a fish, and steal the fish away. After successfully capturing the fish, the Gull-billed Tern then flew down behind the higher set of dunes at inside the enclosure. We couldn't see what happened then, but it would be worth watching for any nesting behavior or young Gull-billed Terns later in the season. None of us had seen this type of behavior from Gull-billed Tern before, although it is mentioned in the online "Birds of North America" account for the species. Cheers, Andy Guthrie Hamlin, NY -- NYSbirds-L List Info: http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NYSbirdsWELCOME http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NYSbirdsRULES http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NYSbirdsSubscribeConfigurationLeave.htm ARCHIVES: 1) http://www.mail-archive.com/nysbirds-l@cornell.edu/maillist.html 2) http://www.surfbirds.com/birdingmail/Group/NYSBirds-L 3) http://birdingonthe.net/mailinglists/NYSB.html Please submit your observations to eBird: http://ebird.org/content/ebird/ --
[nysbirds-l] Nickerson Beach (Nassau County) - 3 July 2011 - Lesser Black-backed Gulls (high count), Gull-billed Terns
Apologies for the delayed report. I've read the recent reports from Bobby Berlingeri and Sy Schiff about Lesser Black-backed Gulls at Nickerson Beach with interest. On Saturday, 3 July, Tom Burke, Gail Benson I visited Nickerson Beach, primarily to look at the nesting terns and Black Skimmers, and to see if we could relocate the Gull-billed Tern that had been seen sporadically since spring. The most remarkable aspect of our visit, however, turned out to be a congregation of LESSER BLACK-BACKED GULLS on the beach in between the two tern nesting areas. Tom Burke initially spotted an immature Lesser Black-backed Gull in flight when most of the gulls and terns were spooked into the air for some reason. As we watched it, the gull circled and landed back on the beach in a small group of gulls. Looking through the flock, we quickly realized that most of these were also Lesser Black-backed Gulls - about a dozen! After we looked through these for a minute or two the entire group flew up and re-congregated into a larger group a slighter further east on the beach. When we looked over to this group we realized that there were even more Lesser Black-backs in this group. We moved over to a better vantage point, and Tom and I carefully looked at each bird simultaneously to confirm the final count - an astonishing FORTY-THREE (43) Lesser Black-backed Gulls! At this time the flock contained about 60 Great Black-backed Gulls and about 10 Herring Gulls. We categorized the birds into three rough age groups - first-summer types (36); second summer types, with more or less gray mantles, brownish wing coverts and primaries, largely black bills (2); third/fourth summer types, with gray mantles and wing coverts, largely white head and body plumage and mostly yellow bills, primaries black but without white tips (5). Some of this latter group looked nearly like full adults but with some black on the bill and no white primary tips. As we were watching the flock, birds would pick up individually and in small groups and fly off, mainly to the east. When we left the vicinity of the eastern tern nesting area there were only six Lesser Black-backs remaining, and by around 9 a.m. all the gulls had left the beach, probably due to increased beachgoer traffic. I haven't done extensive research, but as far as we're aware this is the highest single count recorded in New York, by a significant margin. In general, there seems to be more summering Lesser Black-backed Gulls along the coast than usual. Also of interest at Nickerson Beach was the presence of not one, but two GULL-BILLED TERNS. These were seen flying over and around the western tern nesting enclosure, occasionally with both in the air together. As we were watching them, we saw some parasitic behavior, where a Gull-billed Tern would dive down on a Common Tern returning to the colony with a fish, and steal the fish away. After successfully capturing the fish, the Gull-billed Tern then flew down behind the higher set of dunes at inside the enclosure. We couldn't see what happened then, but it would be worth watching for any nesting behavior or young Gull-billed Terns later in the season. None of us had seen this type of behavior from Gull-billed Tern before, although it is mentioned in the online Birds of North America account for the species. Cheers, Andy Guthrie Hamlin, NY -- NYSbirds-L List Info: http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NYSbirdsWELCOME http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NYSbirdsRULES http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NYSbirdsSubscribeConfigurationLeave.htm ARCHIVES: 1) http://www.mail-archive.com/nysbirds-l@cornell.edu/maillist.html 2) http://www.surfbirds.com/birdingmail/Group/NYSBirds-L 3) http://birdingonthe.net/mailinglists/NYSB.html Please submit your observations to eBird: http://ebird.org/content/ebird/ --
