As 2016 draws to a close and with the likelihood that people will be bustling 
about to bulk up their year lists in just a few hours, I figured it a good time 
to put up a little summary about the recent large gull roost at Bellport Bay 
Yacht Club.

I first discovered this evening roost in the 2011-2012 winter, and during that 
winter, many observers were able to observe an interesting array of gulls 
there.  The past few winters, the roost has been relatively lack luster. 
However, recently, there have been multi-thousands of large gulls roosting in 
around the yacht club, allowing for the some of the best winter gulling I've 
ever had along coast. Goodies in the roost have included:
2+ Glaucous Gulls - an ad and a t least 1 1st winter
7 + different Iceland Gulls of various ages
multiple Lesser Black-backs

This evening, I observed individuals from each of these species as well as two 
unique putative hybrids - a GBBGx Herring and a LBBG x Herring.
Photos of this winter's gulls can be found at: 
https://flickr.com/#/photos/oceanites69/sets/72157674802122953/

The dynamics of the BBYC roost are quite interesting, with flocks coming from 
as far S and E as Old Inlet and the Smith Pt Narrows, as far N as Upper Lk and 
the Brookhaven dump, and as far W as the Patchogue lakes (and likely even 
farther afield).  For anyone who hasn't experienced such a surreal roost, I 
highly recommend stopping by in the evening's last hour of light (...and plus 
it is always better to have more eyes to sift through the enormous gull flocks).

Happy New Year (and apologies for the lengthy post),
Mike McBrien





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