This evening, I arrived at the Bellport Bay Yacht Club to an enormous
roost of large gulls, numbering at least 2900 individuals. Although
it is not unprecedented to have counts of over two-thousand gulls
during January and February, today's gathering was quite an abrupt
change from the smaller counts of about 600 gulls that I've had over
the past weeks (as recently as this past Monday). Flat conditions on
the bay made for excellent viewing and study of the many gulls that
were on the water. Unfortunately, shortly after we arrived, a boater
plowed right through the flock scattering the gulls further out onto
the bay.
I was able to scan through some of the gulls before they were
flushed. Among those I looked through was a 1st cycle Glaucous Gull
and a presumed adult Lesser Black-backed x Herring Gull hybrid. This
individual exhibited a mantle shade darker than all surrounding
Herring Gulls, but noticeably paler than any pure LBBG I've seen. It
was observed briefly in flight, and possessed a dark shadow on the
underside of the flight feathers consistent with dark-mantled gulls.
Good winter birding,
Michael McBrien
East Patchogue
--
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/
--
