[nysbirds-l] Lake Champlain Bonaparte’s Gulls
Greetings, Historically, beginning in late July/early August, the Adirondack’s Lake Champlain region begins its steady trickle of arriving Bonaparte’s Gulls. Our first arrivals are always full-hooded adults, followed by juveniles a couple of weeks later. I believe this age/arrival association is the complete opposite of what birders in western NY experience based on my recollection of an intriguing thread and post last year by Willie D’Anna, but my memory could be fuzzy. Numbers here usually max at some point in August or early September and it’s not unusual to find numbers upwards of 300-400 individuals, and occasionally more. Surely a full lake survey would yield several thousand. Here in Region 7, birds begin staging at the rich deltas and sandbars that form at the major river mouths such as the Boquet and Ausable Rivers. Little Gull is typically annual here every summer in low numbers as they associate with the Bonaparte’s Gulls. When birds aren’t staging and loafing on the sandy deltas they are out foraging in the middle of the lake and it’s not unusual to see several hundred birds with multiple large feeding flocks. Alarmingly, Bonaparte’s Gulls have been almost completely absent this summer, save for a couple of days in mid August when low numbers were recorded. Our max this year was 19 individuals, otherwise all single digit encounters and we keep thinking they’ll show up on the next cold front, but that is not happening. Routine trips to known staging areas over the past couple of weeks have consistently turned up zero individuals, which is astonishing. We’re not even seeing any foraging in the middle of the lake during our lakewatches. They are often the dominant gull species in our checklists throughout August and September. I checked eBird data going back to 2001 and this is the first time we’ve ever seen this happen. I’m curious what others are observing in terms of summer Bonaparte’s Gulls in other regions of the state? What happened to our Lake Champlain bonies? Are they just incredibly late? At this point, I believe the answer is no. Did the breeding population that frequents Lake Champlain have different plans this summer? I know the historic movements of Bonaparte’s Gulls have been very unpredictable and puzzling. The dearth of Bonaparte’s Gulls this season on Lake Champlain breaks a very long trend that Region 7 birders have enjoyed observing for decades. Best, Derek Rogers Willsboro Point, NY -- NYSbirds-L List Info: http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NYSbirdsWELCOME.htm http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NYSbirdsRULES.htm 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://birding.aba.org/maillist/NY01 Please submit your observations to eBird: http://ebird.org/content/ebird/ --
[nysbirds-l] Lake Champlain Bonaparte’s Gulls
Greetings, Historically, beginning in late July/early August, the Adirondack’s Lake Champlain region begins its steady trickle of arriving Bonaparte’s Gulls. Our first arrivals are always full-hooded adults, followed by juveniles a couple of weeks later. I believe this age/arrival association is the complete opposite of what birders in western NY experience based on my recollection of an intriguing thread and post last year by Willie D’Anna, but my memory could be fuzzy. Numbers here usually max at some point in August or early September and it’s not unusual to find numbers upwards of 300-400 individuals, and occasionally more. Surely a full lake survey would yield several thousand. Here in Region 7, birds begin staging at the rich deltas and sandbars that form at the major river mouths such as the Boquet and Ausable Rivers. Little Gull is typically annual here every summer in low numbers as they associate with the Bonaparte’s Gulls. When birds aren’t staging and loafing on the sandy deltas they are out foraging in the middle of the lake and it’s not unusual to see several hundred birds with multiple large feeding flocks. Alarmingly, Bonaparte’s Gulls have been almost completely absent this summer, save for a couple of days in mid August when low numbers were recorded. Our max this year was 19 individuals, otherwise all single digit encounters and we keep thinking they’ll show up on the next cold front, but that is not happening. Routine trips to known staging areas over the past couple of weeks have consistently turned up zero individuals, which is astonishing. We’re not even seeing any foraging in the middle of the lake during our lakewatches. They are often the dominant gull species in our checklists throughout August and September. I checked eBird data going back to 2001 and this is the first time we’ve ever seen this happen. I’m curious what others are observing in terms of summer Bonaparte’s Gulls in other regions of the state? What happened to our Lake Champlain bonies? Are they just incredibly late? At this point, I believe the answer is no. Did the breeding population that frequents Lake Champlain have different plans this summer? I know the historic movements of Bonaparte’s Gulls have been very unpredictable and puzzling. The dearth of Bonaparte’s Gulls this season on Lake Champlain breaks a very long trend that Region 7 birders have enjoyed observing for decades. Best, Derek Rogers Willsboro Point, NY -- NYSbirds-L List Info: http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NYSbirdsWELCOME.htm http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NYSbirdsRULES.htm 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://birding.aba.org/maillist/NY01 Please submit your observations to eBird: http://ebird.org/content/ebird/ --
