Last Friday 3/16 there was also a good movement of Lesser Black-backed Gulls through Stewart Park. See here for photos and eBird checklist:
http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist?subID=S10188525 Thinking that this influx might become a regular occurrence, I checked the meager gull flocks more often in the following evenings without finding any other Lessers. In fact, I barely found any gulls at all. There weren't any sightings reported to eBird of Lesser black-backed Gull at Stewart Park between 3/16 (group of 3 birds and hybrid) and yesterday 3/25 (5 birds). Yesterday I saw an adult LESSER BLACK-BACKED GULL moving up the lake at Taughannock SP and a pair of RED-BREASTED MERGANSERS among 94 COMMON MERGANSERS from East Rd. at Montezuma. Good birding, Tim Lenz t...@cornell.edu Web Applications Developer Cornell Lab of Ornithology On Sun, Mar 25, 2012 at 9:03 PM, Christopher Wood <chris.w...@cornell.edu>wrote: > After hearing about Ken and Jay's interesting gull I decided to meet > Jessie at Stewart Park where we were eventually able to see what we are > fairly confident is the same interesting gull (based on some photos that > Ken sent me while I was there--THANK KEN!). The pattern of replacement in > the wing coverts and tail appear identical to my eyes. We had the luxury of > seeing this bird in direct comparison with an adult Lesser Black-backed > Gull and was able to get some video, which you can see at the link below. > The side-by-side comparison has made me believe that this is a Lesser > Black-backed Gull. > > https://vimeo.com/39164762 > > I'm reminded again how troublesome second and third-year Lesser > Black-backed Gulls can be. They usually are bit paler mantled, and it seems > as if they often appear a bit shorter-winged. I believe what was once the > first or second record of Slaty-backed Gull for Ontario was in fact also a > Lesser Black-backed Gull and accepted by the entire Ontario Records > committee -- just to give an idea of how challenging these birds can be. I > think part of this impression is due to the extensive black tip to the bill > of second-year Lesser Black-backed Gull, which creates the impression that > they are bigger-billed than they really are. Nevertheless, I think if you > look at the video where it is interacting with an adult Lesser Black-backed > it has an extremely similar structure. I hope this will clear up any > confusion. You'll note some differences in aging as well. Aging second and > third-year gulls is far more complicated than standard field guides have > room to illustrate. Not, however, the extensive pattern of brown in the > wings and the tail pattern are normal for a 2nd-year Lesser Black-backed > Gull not a third year which I belive would have much more extensive slaty > feathers in the wings. > > There were, in fact, 4 adult Lesser Black-backed Gulls and 1 second-year > bird at Stewart this evening! Pretty amazing. This makes 5 spankingly > handsome breeding Lesser Black-backed Gulls (and a second-year) presumably > all heading north over Cayuga Lake today and dropped by the weather (Tim > had one farther north too -- not the wintering one). I wonder where they > are going and why they appear to be taking this inland route. Perhaps there > is a US breeding ground and perhaps it is father west than we have tended > to assume. > > I also uploaded some video of courting Bufflehead. Courting ducks in > general are among the most captivating birds there are and Bufflehead may > well be in a league of their own. I took the video below up at Long Point > yesterday. Do yourself a favor in the next week or two and head to the lake > and find some Bufflehead. Instead of passing your scope over them to find > Long-tailed Ducks, stop and watch them. Right now they are at there best! > At the very least, check out the video. Then call in sick tomorrow and go > find some Bufflehead! (NOT YOU TIM LENZ, we have work to do!!) > > https://vimeo.com/39138904 > > Finally, I also uploaded some video of Pine Warbler from Monkey Run. > > https://vimeo.com/39080251 > > If you explore elsewhere there are some videos of a Red-tailed Hawk eating > a Common Loon, millions or Red-winged Blackbirds and some other stuff. > > Anyway, THANKS Ken for getting the word out about the gull. Certainly an > interesting bird. I'm sure I would have been confused had a few adult > Lesser Black-backed Gulls not dropped in. > > Good birding, > Chris Wood > > PS - A couple other weekend highlights included a VERY EARLY singing male > Yellow Palm Warbler at the odd locale of Mackenzie Childs Bluffs. I also > saw and heard Red Crossbill (I believe type 1) along Station Road near the > big pulloff above where you typically enter to go look for Worm-eating > Warblers by walking the ridge line to Lindsay Parsons. > > > -- 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/ --
