Second Weekend of March

Saturday, 08 March 2014. Lake County Fairgrounds.

Large gulls were holding steady this past weekend, with a more noticeable presence of Kumlien's. My working theory is that Kumlien's increases in northern Illinois towards the end of winter. Highlights today were 4 Kumlien's (including 2 first cycles together), and an adult Glaucous Gull. Of the 9 Thayer's that I observed, all were adults. Roughly 75% of the adult type Herrings were completely white-headed with a noticeable restlessness to them. They vocalized, displayed and faced-off with one another with a more aggressive touch than their typical "winter mode".

And now the two young Kumlien's together, displaying a typical ghost and chocolate type 1st cycle:

Left bird is more petite, bleached, and faded when compared to the bigger and "crisper" looking 1st cycle in the back.

Adult Kumlien's.

An intermediate-looking adult, but tending towards Kumlien's.

Adult Thayer's.

Adult Thayer's. 

Adult Thayer's.

Adult Thayer's.

First Weekend of March Continued

Sunday, 02 March 2014. Lake County Fairgrounds.

A rather dark adult Kumlien's (front) with American Herring.

Adult Kumlien's Gull.

Adult Kumlien's Gull.

Classic female type (same bird above).

Adult Thayer's Gull.

Adult Thayer's with subadult-like bill pattern.

Sub-adult Lesser Black-backed Gull. Likely beyond 3rd plumage cycle.

To read about Saturday's birds, 01 March 2014, click here.

First Weekend of March: Thayer's and Kumlien's

I spent a good amount of time at the Lake County Fairgrounds this past weekend. I had some hope the Slaty-backed would reappear, but alas, not so (MIA since last Sunday when Nolan Lameka and Bruce Heimer photographed it). Instead, some 18 different Thayer's and 7 Kumlien's Gulls were to be recorded between Saturday and Sunday. I also had a nice assortment of adult and adult-like Lesser Black-backeds, and an awesome variety of American Herring Gulls to sort through.

Saturday, 01 March 2014. Lake County Fairgrounds.

Female-type Thayer's.

Thayer's with a bill I associate with Kumlien's.

Perhaps a young adult Thayer's with heavy head streaking and black smudge on red gonys spot.

Not a typical bill pattern for Thayer's, but everything else consistent for that species.

Same individual above.

3rd cycle Thayer's Gull (photo 1 of 4).

 

2nd cycle Thayer's.

Retarded 2nd cycle Thayer's (photo 1 of 2)

See separate post on ageing this individual which has some 1st cycle-like features.

3rd cycle Kumlien's Iceland Gull

Click here for Sunday's birds: 02 March 2014



A Thayerring Gull?

On Sunday, 16 February 2014, I and a handful of birders observed this adult-type gull at the BP Refinery in Whiting, Indiana:

It was first identified as a Thayer's Gull, and I initially had no doubt about that. But after a few minutes of looking at this bird, I began scratching my head. I soon began calling it the "Herring-Thayer's" in the field and I became uncertain of its identity the more I observed it. Although the wingtip pattern is thayeri-like, the subterminal band on P5 is w-shaped and screams Herring Gull to me. Thayer's can show this sometimes, but the pattern is standard on American Herrings.

Other troubling features include the extent of black on the subterminal portion of the bill, coupled with the relatively pale eye, blocky head, and relatively stout bill. Although all of these features can be found on Thayer's, it troubles me to see them combined on a single Thayer's.

Body size was medium-like and a tad smaller than what is expected for male Herrings, but a tad larger than female Herrings - in short, body size was perfect for Thayer's. Another mark in favor of Thayer's is the purplish-pink orbital ring. An odd mix of marks at best.

This bird may very well be a Thayer's Gull, but the overall impression I have of the face is contrary of what I understand to be a Thayer's jizz. I've never attempted to identify a gull as a Thayer's x Herring hybrid, and if I was going to, this would be the bird to start with! As Todd Easterla put it, "There must be some dark corner on this Earth where the two have hybridized".

Gull Frolic 2014

Gull Frolic 2014 started out sort of slow, but picked up with a big punch after lunch. I was really worried the gulls would not cooperate this year as they've been staying outside of the harbor all winter and resting on the ice well off-shore. This is the first winter ever where I've observed the gulls do this. That is, the first winter where they've prefered to rest out on the lake rather than on the docks in the harbor. Polar Vortex? I'm not sure, but I don't like it!

Birders on the "board-walk" studying the gulls in the harbor!

I, as always, tried to keep a gull-list, which is almost impossible to do accurately given all the gull traffic and various sightings made by different people. What birds are re-counts? What birds haven't been counted, and so on and so forth. We did tally 8 gull species with a new Frolic species: SLATY-BACKED GULL.

Slaty-backed Gull (adult). North Point Marina. Winthrop Harbor, IL. 15 Feb 2014.

This Asian gem caused a lot of excitment throughout the day. Birders went back and forth to the Lake County Fairgrounds, nearly 15 miles away, where it was giving great looks in the parking lot. I spotted the bird the previous day with Maarten van Kleinwee, and the gull gods sent it back for many a birder to check off on Gull Frolic Day! To read more about this bird's initial sighting click here.

During the last 45 minutes of the Frolic, as we were cleaning up and organizing furniture, Matthew Winks ran in to tell us the bird was out in the harbor. We ran outside like children trying to catch the ice-cream truck and watched it put on a nice 20 minute show. It passed us several times, spent time bathing and resting, and finally picked up and flew out on the lake with most of the gulls. We were stoked:

The horse-shoe birders of the day. Lucky 13 (inlcuding me)!

And now the rest of the boring gulls...

Slaty-backed Gull: Lake County Fairgrounds

On Friday, 14 February 2014, I spotted an adult Slaty-backed Gull in the parking lot at the Lake County Fairgrounds. The identification was made within seconds of viewing the bird.

I was with visiting gull enthusiast, Maarten van Kleinwee, who has come from the Netherlands to watch gulls in the southern Lake Michigan region. Maarten and I were off to a good start with a few Thayer's, a Kumlien's and 2 Lesser Black-backeds, when I noticed a dark-backed gull landing right of our car. I glimpsed a flash of pink on the legs and the rest was history:

Slaty-backed Gull (adult). Lake County, IL. 14 Feb 2014.

As we were observing the bird, Andy Stewart pulled up and introduced himself. We told him we had a surprise. To not risk shifting the birds in undesired directions, I suggested Andy get in my car so that there wasn't too much going on at one time. He took in this lifer at a distance of no more than 20 feet. The bird could not have been more cooperative!!

After getting the word out, several birders showed up and began checking off this Asian rarity. This will be the 5th Illinois State Record and 1st Lake County Record.