Today, at ~ 1300, I saw what I hope will be the latest addition to my (and countless others) NYS bird list...while also filling a myriad of other "lists", i.e., life, hemisphere, region, county, etc. I was led into battle by Patrice Domeischel, the very "finder" of this very possible super bird, back on 2/22 /22. I believe I first saw this species on the island of Capri, Italy on 4/28/07, in it's full adult plumage, and remember it vividly...partly due to the excellent sardine dinner we had just consumed !
After scoping 2 of the bird's usual haunts, Patrice was reasonably sure we were looking at the subject of our quest, but until it stood to show us it's leg color, we were left to hover in a holding pattern. This glorious moment did materialize about 10 minutes into our "purgatory", with me being blessed by looking through the scope at the very instance of this "epiphany" ! To my old eyes the brilliance of this yellow was the equal of a Van Gogh painting...maybe even more intense ! The joy of this experience reminded me of The Alula Birding & Natural History Tours bird trip to south Texas, that Patrice & I were on when we saw Aplomado Falcon, Ferruginous Pygmy-Owl and Pyrrhuloxia, to name just a few of the "biggies". While at Old Field Point, 2 of the other "good" gulls (Iceland and Lesser Black-Backed) showed themselves, with only the Glaucous Gull not making roll-call. Although the wind was not blowing, the temperature did not lend itself to dawdling, so we headed for some hot soup. We found it at Uncle Giuseppe's in P.J.Station - squash for Patrice and lentil for me. A satisfying finish to a most satisfying adventure...now all we can do is pray ! 👼 Cheers, Bob -- 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/ --
