Nov. 19, 2013 Considering the tremendous rarity of the Ross’s Gull in Eastern North America I decided to make the 400 mile one way trip to see this bird. This bird was reported in partial breeding plumage, that is pink, and its location, just north of the NY state border at Chambly Quebec, was listed at sewage lagoons opposite #2417 Boul. Industriel (my Tom-Tom found it right away). The information about exact location and unique color made for a high probability of success. After leaving Nassau County at 4am I arrived at noon, waited 2.5 hours and the bird appeared. The Ross’s Gull in this plumage was just a fantastic sight. The thought that a bird that is hardly ever seen except seasonally in northern Alaska or Siberia was here in front of me was totally awesome. At the sewage lagoons there are three ponds but only one is close and easily visible. There were many birders there helping to locate the bird among the numerous Bonaparte’s Gulls and Ring-billed Gulls. It was a trip well worth it! To see if the bird is still present go to Birdingonthe.net, Quebec. Don’t know French, no problem, just copy and paste the messages into the many free online translation services. Best, Joe Giunta
-- 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/ --
