Made an afternoon run along Dune Rd. The highlight was a large gull haul on the oceanside beach at Triton Lane. There was a disturbingly large amount of dead fish on the beach, and a very large concentration of gulls was feeding on them. The flock was highlighted by 6 Lesser Black-backed Gulls, of which 5 were hatch-year birds - including a tiny, remarkably fresh juv. Usually HY LBBGs are very scarce after the majority of them pass through in mid-October, so I was very delighted to find five in the same flock in mid December.
Additionally, there were also two 1st-winter Iceland Gulls, a 1st-winter Glaucous Gull, and two Nelson's Gulls (Herring x Glaucous). There was an adult Nelson's-type (hulking HEGU-looking gull with severely reduced black on the wingtips) on the beach when I first arrived, and a well-observed 1st winter (pale, fawn-colored bird, with large bicolored bill and milky brown tertials and wingtips) was discovered in the feeding flock later.
A continuing pair of Harlequin Ducks was at Shinnecock Inlet, and an oddly-placed Snow Goose was in the dunes at Cupsogue - doing its best impression of an alert Snowy Owl.
Good birding,
Michael McBrien
Bristol RI & East Patchogue
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