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 -- 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/ --
