Tag Archives: Glaucous Gull

The Right Whales of Race Point.

Over the weekend, Jeannette and I made a little escape to Cape Cod. I’ve been wanting to take this trip for many years, but our schedule rarely allows it. But thanks to Jeanne and Haley holding down the fort at the store, and the return of Zane to the hawkwatch, we felt we could make a run for it.

While Cape Cod is always great for birding, especially Race Point, from late winter into the middle of spring Race Point is even more famous for its whale-watching. From land. Of one of the rarest animals on the planet: the North Atlantic Right Whale.

While much to most of the world’s diminishing population arrives in Cape Cod Bay in February, the best time to see the whales is in late March and April of most years (sometimes earlier, sometimes later) when they frequent the waters immediately off of the very tip of Cape Cod. Here, a narrow and deep channel come in close proximity to land and its shallow shores, providing a rich area of upwelling and unrivaled proximity to rich feeding areas for whales and birds.

For some background reading on the phenomenon, you can start with this article from last spring from the NOAA Fisheries.

We arrived Friday afternoon and decided to get the lay of the land. I haven’t been to Race Point in over 20 years – sadly – and Jeannette had never been here, despite growing up a short ferry ride away. While we didn’t see any whales this afternoon in a brief visit, we got to know the viewing spot, a little of the strategy from another visiting couple, and got to spend some time with the birds. It’s really extraordinary how much birdlife is at this place!

100’s of Red-throated Loons, at least a dozen Iceland Gulls, Razorbills, a couple of newly-arrived Piping Plovers, and a local avian specialty – Pacific Loon! Arguably the best place in the Atlantic to see this – yes, you guess it- Pacific species, we found one fairly close to shore with a minimum amount of effort. This photo was the best that Jeannette can do, and while my phone-scoped photos are marginally better (or at least, more diagnostic, WordPress is being stupid with its photos uploading right now and I have given up!)

But with perfect afternoon light, Jeannette did much better with the “real” photography.

*1st winter Iceland and Glaucous Gulls with a Great Black-backed Gull and Herring Gulls of several ages.*

We were back early on Saturday morning, ready for the 1.5-2-mile slog over fairly soft sand. We would have been to the point much sooner were it not for all of the birds along the way once again. And the soft sand.

Our pace quickened markedly when we saw a North Atlantic Right Whale in the distance. Well, distant to us. It was clearly right off the point! We also spotted a Minke Whale moderately close to shore just as our walk began. We were getting excited now.

In position at the point by about 8:20 – after reassurances from the local expert – we began to wait. Flocks of Common Eiders were moving out of the bay, as were many of the dozens of Northern Gannets. A Northern Harrier did not even hesitate to head straight offshore, its bearings set for landfall in Nova Scotia.

And then there were the Razorbills! Singles, handfuls, small flocks; a steady stream heading out of Cape Cod Bay. I tallied 356 when not distracted by other things.

Like Right Whales. Close to shore. Like right there Right Whales. In the surf of the rips just off the point. First there was one who showed its fluke to announce its presence and departure. The next one (or the same that had circled around) was spotted off in the distance to the west, first by it’s v-shaped blow. It slowly but steadily came closer, feeding with shallow dives as it passed in front of us. Then, completely catching all of the photographers off-guard, a breach! Like right there. Right in front of us. It was absolutely breathtaking.

About when we realized it was almost noon and we forgot to pack snacks, two whales appeared in the rips nearby. We forgot about being hungry as we watched them feed for almost 45 minutes! We also forgot to continue to click Razorbills. But that’s OK.

I don’t know what to say. It was a moving experience. We were so close to something so special, so rare, and whose continued existence is so precarious. At least one tear escaped my ducts. It was amazing. I am so glad we finally did this.

The adrenaline and satisfaction, as well as the reflection of it all, powered us back to the car, passing another Glaucous Gull with more Iceland Gulls, another or the same Minke Whale, and just as we reached the parking lot, one more North Atlantic Right Whale fluke in the distance for good measure.

We did some casual birding and tourist-ing for the rest of the afternoon. The perfect weather of the day – light winds, fairly warm (we were most enthused about being overdressed!), gave way to some rain with an approaching cold front.

Said front made for a much cooler and windier morning on Sunday. We decided to forgo another trek to the point – with much reservation and consternation – and try our luck at Herring Cove after a leisurely breakfast. We were on vacation afterall, no matter how mini.

There weren’t nearly as many birds here as the day before, so we went back to Race Point. A series of blows from a North Atlantic Right Whale from the beach just beyond the parking lot made us ponder sucking it up and taking another walk, but the fact that we couldn’t see the massive animal at all because of the surf made us think twice. Again.

Our experience on Saturday – including the delightful weather – was something to savor and remember. We didn’t need a sand-blasted facial to sour our experience. So begrudgingly, we departed, working our way towards Providence for the night, to indulge in some Rhode Island birding and way too much divine Italian food. Seriously the spaghettoni alla carbonara at Ristorante Il Massimo might have been almost as memorable as the whales. Almost.

We’ll be back for the pasta. The question is, how much longer will we be able to see North Atlantic Right Whales? With less than 340 remaining on Earth, this is a trip we could no longer delay. And nor should you.

Yup, More About the “Westbrook Gull.”

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A great day of birding on Friday included new arrivals and migrant waterfowl around Scarborough Marsh (oh yeah, and two more Snowy Owls), continuing good numbers of white-winged gulls in Portland Harbor, and “quality time” with “Westie,” the still unidentified white-winged gull in Westbrook (highlights posted to the store’s Facebook page as usual).

As for this frustrating, fun, and challenging obsession of mine with the “Westbrook Gull,” I won’t rehash the entire story here, but for that please visit this blog entry from January.

During our outing on Friday, Kristen Lindquist and I enjoyed my best photo session of the season with the bird. I’ve posted a variety of photos of the bird into the growing gallery of photos of this bird on our store’s Facebook page, here.

But here I want to discuss a few of the more pertinent images, and explore some of the still-unanswered questions about this bird. First and foremost, and perhaps the single most critical factor in being able to simply dismiss this as an Iceland Gull – likely (due to its pure white wingtips and pale mantle) of the nominate subspecies glaucoides – is the fact (not subject to interpretation) that the wings are short: only two primaries extend beyond the tail, as with Glaucous Gull, and unlike the long, four-primary extension of Iceland Gull of either subspecies. No photo of this bird in four years has shown the typical “long-winged” appearance of Iceland Gull of either subspecies.

It’s impossible to ignore this significant structural feature, but of course, we never base an identification (or lack thereof!) on any one particular characteristic. Unfortunately, nothing else is this clear and distinct.

As the bird reached adulthood, I had hoped that the orbital ring – the narrow band of bare skin that surrounds the eye – might yield a clue, and now that we are in late spring, the bird’s head is pure white and the brighter bill suggests that it is now in “high breeding” (or at least close to it), the color should be as true as possible. Howell and Dunn list the orbital ring of Larus glaucoides glaucoides as pinkish to red, turning brighter reddish by spring. L.g kumlieni is described as purplish-pink to reddish, brightening by spring. As for Glaucous Gull: orange to pale pink flesh, brightening in spring to “orange or chrome yellow.” As for Westie?

I call that simply “pink.” But does that only mean that this bird is not in high breeding yet (which is suggested by the still-brightening yellow of the bill)? If this is as colorful as it gets, it’s a significant strike against a Glaucous Gull, or at least a pure one, but it is not clinching for Iceland Gull of either subspecies, either.

Westie’s dominance of the park leads to aggressive behavior towards other gulls, especially anything of similar size or larger. While the aggressive behavior is more typical of Glaucous Gulls, I think the rather unnatural environment, along with the decided “home-turf’ behavior negates the value of this circumstantial evidence. What it does mean, however, is that it is a royal pain in the ass to get this bird next to something else other than a smaller Ring-bill. I would like to see it next to an adult Herring Gull to compare grayscale, but especially an Iceland Gull of any shape, size, or variety! This was the closest I have come to that goal.

As for Herring Gulls, this youngster was tolerated for a few seconds.

In other words, I still don’t know what this is. But at least it gives me something to do in the winter, and offers a really good exercise in studying the finer points of the endless variation in “large white-headed gulls.” Oh yeah, and it’s a pretty bird, too. Might just have to leave it at that…for now.

And believe it or not, there are other birds at Riverbank Park and the adjacent Westbrook Riverwalk. On Friday, this included one of the continuing Canvasbacks (a rarity in Maine), and a handful of ultra-cooperative Cedar Waxwings!

A (Very) Early Spring Week in Review

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Our Saturday Morning Birdwalk surveyed the waterfront in Freeport and Yarmouth. On Sunday, Kristen Lindquist and I enjoyed an epic white-winged gull show in Portland, before working our way around the Cape Elizabeth shoreline. Then, on Monday, we birded from Biddeford Pool through Scarborough Marsh with Snowy and Great Horned owls, Rough-legged Hawk, and Ruddy Turnstones among the many highlights.

Further south, Jeannette and I covered Kittery through Wells, as is our tradition on the first Tuesday in March. Another exceptionally productive day was enjoyed, including two more Snowy Owls and a Common Eider of the northern subspecies, borealis.

Wednesday was spent dealing with various car issues and seed delivery, so birding was limited to the woods near our house, and the feeders of course. Same for Friday, where at Hedgehog Mountain Park, a mere 7 species was actually the most that I have detected in a couple of months there. In between, I was back in Portland and Westbrook on Thursday, and although the Westbrook riverfront was a disappointing, the continuing white-winged gull show in Old Port more than made up for it.

While “new arrivals” were few and far between this week as bitter cold continues, there were definitely signs of the season. Waterfowl are obviously on the move: Brant, Canada Geese, Mallards, and American Black Ducks are returning in numbers, while the concentrations of seaducks, especially all three scoters, was greatly reduced as these birds have begun to disperse – if not actually migrating north.

For the first week of March, I recorded very few “first-of-years” this week: Great Horned Owl, Yellow-rumped Warbler, and Fox Sparrows. Of those, only the sparrow is likely a true migrant; the owl is a resident, and the warbler likely wintered locally. American Robins were definitely on the move, however, with several flocks noted moving northbound (at least at the given time), and American Tree Sparrows also seem to be on the go.

New reports of Snowy Owls – especially inland – likely included northbound migrants. While all three of the individuals that I saw this week seemed to be birds that were continuing in a specific area for several weeks or more now, the fact that Kristen and I only saw one bird in a very thorough search at Biddeford Pool (four had been present for a couple of months now) suggests birds are already departing. Northern Shrikes – such as the one that briefly visited the yard here at the store on Thursday (our second of the season) are also likely migrating right now.

In the woods there is a different story, however, as even the local residents are a little less active vocally right now than we would expect. I have yet to hear a Brown Creeper sing – although I am seeing them on regular basis – and Golden-crowned Kinglets remain very few and far between. And other than goldfinches and resident House Finches, finches remain virtually non-existent.

But all of this is about to change, and my guess is that it will change rather rapidly. In fact, with the winds turning south today, I wouldn’t be surprised if a few Turkey Vulture and Red-winged Blackbird reports trickle in this weekend. And once the snow really begins to melt (especially to our south), expect those floodgates to really open! (Any day now…any day now…)

Snowy Owl, The Cliff House, York, 3/4/14. As you have seen on this blog, our store’s Facebook and Flickr pages, etc, most of our Snowy Owl photos this winter have been of relaxed birds, often with their eyes closed. Few have been “perfect” shots, whether in lighting or resolution. And we’re proud of that! To us, the birds ALWAYS comes first, and we pride ourselves in minimizing any chance at disturbance. Unfortunately, this bird was sitting close to the parking lot and we spooked it before we knew it was present. A pair of crows likely also affected the bird’s immediate response. As it flew away from both us and the crows, Jeannette snapped some photos, as the bird first flew straight out to sea – thereby ditching the crows – before returning to land a short distance away. We backed off and left it alone. With a lot of unethical and selfish behavior occurring – as always – around charismatic owls around the country, we support the idea that the circumstances of photos be explained when it shows a behavior that may have been modified by our presence or behavior.

A White-winged Gull Convention in Portland Harbor

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On Sunday, Kristen Lindquist and I worked Portland Harbor for gulls. In my usual routine, I started at the Maine State Pier and worked my way west, checking all of the piers and roosting locations in Old Port. I was pretty happy with the 4 first-winter Glaucous Gulls and a healthy handful of Iceland Gulls from the state pier, and we continued to see Iceland Gulls here and there as we continued along.

It was a good day for gulls in the harbor, but we didn’t realize just how good it was until we got to the end of the “Fish Pier.” There, everywhere we looked we saw white-winged gulls! Out by the dredging barges there were white-winged gulls. Feeding at the rips around the channel markers there were white-winged gulls. And all around the fish pier there were white-winged gulls!

I was very conservative in my counts, and yet tallied an exceptional 12 first-winter Glaucous Gulls – an all-time state high count for me. But it was the abundance of Iceland Gulls that stole the show; 4 adults (all with completely different wing-tip patterns of course), at least three 2^nd-winter, and an astounding (for southern Maine, anyway) THIRTY-TWO 1^st-winter birds. With that many, it was not surprising that the whole range of variation of “Kumlien’s” Iceland Gulls was to be seen, but try as I might, I couldn’t find a single bird that even allowed for an attempted stringing of a Thayer’s.

Despite starting the day by saying, “I am not taking any more first cycle Iceland Gull photos this winter,” with this many birds around, I couldn’t help myself. Here’s a selection of photos, starting with two phone-scoping using an iPhone 4S, Phone Skope adapter, and a Zeiss Diascope FL, followed by “better” photos using my Nikon D80 with a 300mm lens.

At the aforementioned outflow pipe.

1st cycle Iceland Gull feeding storm-petrel style.

1st/2nd cycle (L) and 2 1st-cycle “Kumlien’s” Iceland Gulls (R), with a dark 1st winter Herring Gull for contrast.

Light and darker 1st-cycle “Kumlien’s” Iceland Gulls.

Worn, late 1st Cycle or early 2nd Cycle “Kumlien’s” Iceland Gull.

Adult “Kumlien’s” Iceland Gull.

Adult and 1st/2nd Cycle “Kumlien’s” Iceland Gulls.

1st cycle and adult “Kumlien’s” Iceland Gulls.

Wait, that’s not an Iceland Gull…sorry, I got distracted…

After second breakfast, we checked in at Mill Creek Cove, where the outgoing tide was attracting gulls to the mouth of the creek as usual. With birds heading to and from the Old Port, we didn’t add to our earlier counts, but there were at least 4 1^st-winter Iceland and 2 1^st-winter Glaucous Gulls present. Oh, and this rather confiding female Green-winged Teal was dabbling with the Mallards.

showing a little more green speculum than usual on one side.

Then we worked the Cape Elizabeth shoreline, highlighted by 3 Greater Scaup at Kettle Cove, 11 Brant at Dyer Point, and these 28 balls of awesomeness (aka Harlequin Ducks; phone-scoped photos).

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But back to those gulls…why so many? While the number of Herring and Great Black-backed gulls (and the expected relatively small number of Ring-bills) were average (at least by recent winters’ standards), this is by far the most total white-winged gulls that I have seen in PortlandHarbor in the 13 years I’ve lived here. Some of these gulls are probably northbound migrants, but clearly there was something more at play here.

For one, there’s a dredging operation ongoing in the main channel of Portland Harbor. While we didn’t see any gulls obviously foraging on the dredge spoils being pumped into the barge, or immediately around the buckets scooping up the muck, there were birds standing around on the new moving “islands.” I wondered if a lot of these gulls were following/riding the barges in from where they are dumping the dredge spoils seven miles offshore. But in today’s Portland Press Herald, I read that the occasional dynamiting of underwater bedrock would kill some fish, and then the “seagulls’ (sic… ahem!) were feeding on the dead fish. That would certainly augment the already-occurring food sources in the harbor.

But most of the Iceland Gulls today were centered around the outflow pipes of various lobster-related facilities, as usual. Meanwhile, the high tide limited roosting and foraging opportunities along the coast, and here in the harbor.

So my guess is that the time of year (migrants), the dredging operation, and the tides all helped to greatly increase the volume of white-winged gulls present today to numbers not seen in recent years – at least not since Portland had a thriving year-round fishing industry. Obviously, this is just conjecture, but whatever made it happen, I was happy to be there to enjoy it!

Also gull-watching:

Scarborough through South Portland: Signs of Spring!

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I decided to blog about my birding outing today, if only to give people a little hope that spring is around the corner. As temperatures plummet once again this week, perhaps the knowledge that spring migration has actually begun will provide a little comfort…and warmth.

Phil McCormack and I birded from Scarborough Marsh into South Portland today, enjoying a very spring-like day (highs in the mid-40’s) and some great birding. A few “new arrivals” and continuing wintering species combined for a respectably tally of 54 species without trying – and with ending our birding at 1:30.

We began on the Eastern Road Trail. Within mere seconds of saying to Phil, “I expect some early migrant waterfowl like pintail and Gadwall today,” three drake Northern Pintails came cruising by. I love the look of pintails in flight; they’re so elegant. The long tail, thin neck, and long, relatively narrow wings suggest a miniature loon, and they have one spiffy pattern. The sense of spring really kicked in when a Killdeer sounded off and came cruising in to an exposed muddy bank – my first of the spring, and a bit on the early side considering the abundant snow cover.

A pair of Gadwall (first of the year – although they were actually southbound) flew over Pine Point, as did at least one Snow Bunting. Twenty-eight Common Loons were in the channel, while over on Western Beach, the dredging operation was pumping sand onto the beach, collecting a nice concentration of gulls. Sifting through them yielded two 1^st-winter Iceland and 1 1^st-winter Glaucous Gull. American Robins – overwintering birds, not northbound spring migrants – were widespread today, with a high count of 50-75 around Seavey’s Landing.

Rounding the north side of the marsh, we checked a couple of neighborhoods for frugivores, before arriving at Kettle Cove. At Two Lights State Park, a raft of 150 Black Scoter loafed offshore, with 18 Harlequin Ducks in the surf. A Porcupine at the edge of the parking lot was the star of the show, however.

Ten more Harlequin Ducks and a Northern Shrike (an immature; my 6^th of the winter) at Dyer Point were signs of the continuing winter, but a Black Guillemot in full breeding plumage was suggestive of the advancing season.

Moving into South Portland, a Red-bellied Woodpecker was among the usual denizens at Trout Brook Preserve, but Mill Creek and Mill Creek Cove were hopping! 286 Mallards and a growing legion of American Black Ducks were joined by a single drake Green-winged Teal, our third “FOY” of the day! Meanwhile, the gull turnover in the cove eventually amounted to eight 1^st-winter Iceland Gulls and two or three 1^st-winter Glaucous Gulls.

But perhaps our last stop provided the “bird of the day:”
…the fried chicken and waffle from Hot Suppa!

Gull Identification Workshop Wrap-Up

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You may have noticed that my blog has been a little quiet in the last couple of weeks. Mostly, that has been due to my birding being mostly about photographing gulls every chance I get! And in between, accumulating and sorting photos from friends. What was planned to be a 95-slide PowerPoint program became an exhaustive (literally), 180+ slide dissertation. Not only was I impressed by how many people signed up, but how many stayed until the bitter end – even though I strongly urged people who were new to this to depart before the section on Thayer’s Gulls and hybrids!

Come Sunday morning, 13 people joined me for the field session of the two-day workshop – no doubt reduced by the 12-degree temperatures that greeted us to start the day. We began with close studies of the various ages of Ring-billed Gulls at Back Cove…aided by a little “incentive,” of course.

Sorting through Herring Gulls was up next, and then we made our way over to the Fish Pier in OldPort, for some “real” gulling. And it did not disappoint. The endless variation of “Kumlien’s” Iceland Gulls was readily apparent with eleven 1st-winter, two 2^nd-winter, and 2 adults – many of them close and in direct contrast with each other. A total of three 1^st-winter Glaucous Gulls were added to the mix, along with ample opportunities to practice aging Herring and Great Black-backed Gulls.

I really couldn’t ask for anything more…well, I could, and of course, did. And shortly thereafter a particular gull-of-interest put in an appearance. Widely being reported as a Thayer’s Gull, this odd individual was a bird I wanted to study closely (Jeannette and I only saw it in the distance on Tuesday), and it was indeed a very instructive bird for a gull workshop. Having been looking at thousands of gull photos over the last two weeks, I have been a bit negligent with studying and addressing this bird. Besides, I had not seen it in the field and even some very good photos are of secondary value to time with a bird in the field.

Doug Hitchcox got some decent photos of the bird on Sunday, but the best photos to date have been from Noah Gibb. I will therefore use these photos as our reference.

One of my take-home messages during my workshop is that a good “guller” has to be able to say “I don’t know,” and leave some individuals as “Gull sp.” This is probably the best answer to this bird, but what I think we can say is that this cannot be “counted” as a Thayer’s Gull.

For better or for worse, Thayer’s Gulls on the East Coast receive extensive scrutiny. Birds that would be passed over in coastal California are analyzed to death in New England. Likewise, birds that look like “Kumlien’s” Iceland Gulls on the West Coast get extensive scrutiny, while here in Maine we pass some of these off as typical variation. And I think this is a good thing – rare birds are rare, and vagrants to opposite coasts should warrant extreme care.

Therefore, this current rash of “Thayer’s Fever” – a common affliction of East Coast gull-watchers – needs to be tempered a bit. There is a reason that there are only two accepted records ever in Maine of this challenging, and variable, species. Therefore, extreme caution is necessary when placing this desirable label on funky gulls.

Like the Shawmut Dam gull reported by many as a Thayer’s a few weeks ago, I believe that the Portland “Thayer’s” is well outside the range of variation of what we can accept as a bona-fide Thayer’s Gull on the East Coast. While there are a number of characteristics that suggest this bird could be a Thayer’s, there are a number of significant “strikes” against it. While I think the Shawmut Dam birds suggests a Iceland-Thayer’s intergrade (I am not going to get into the muddled and controversial taxonomy here today), the Portland bird looks to me more like an abnormally dark-winged “Kumlien’s” Iceland Gull. Sure there could be Thayer’s genes in there…which there probably are in all Kumlien’s Gulls . . .oh wait, I said I wasn’t going to get into taxonomy. Never mind. Moving on.

So where was I? Oh yes… while the dark secondary bar (and upon closer inspection showing a distinct contrast between dark outer webs and pale inner webs) and the similarly distinctly two-toned outer primaries are important Thayer’s features, there are a serious amount of non-Thayer’s like features shown by this bird. Again, like the Shawmut Dam bird, there are just too many things “wrong” with this bird to safely label it a Thayer’s Gull, in my opinion.

First and foremost, there’s the Portland bird’s incredibly white overall appearance. While a first-summer or some 2^nd-cycle Thayer’s can look this pale overall, this bird IS a first-cycle bird. Since no second-cycle feathers are evident (the bird has a very uniformly-marked plumage typical of a bird less than a year old) and none of the feathers suggest any abnormal wear, we cannot call this anything other than a 1^st-cycle bird. It is not overly worn, and bleaching would affect all of the most-exposed parts of the bird – like the mantle, upperwing, and especially the primaries (and it is those primaries that are abnormally dark, not pale). The mostly-dark bill is also highly suggestive of a 1^st-cycle bird, as is the fairly dark eye. Perhaps that is a bit of an over-simplification, but for now, that should suffice.

With that (fairly well) established, we can look at this bird more closely. Again, those outer primaries and “picket-fence” secondaries are very Thayer’s-esque. Unfortunately, the similarities pretty much end there. The bird is not very big, and similar in size to most of the “Kumlien’s” Iceland Gulls we see it with. It is also has the somewhat short and thin-billed appearance, with a gently rounded head and large eye that are typical of Iceland Gulls; this bird does not get any subjective gestalt points. More importantly, in my opinion, are more tangible issues, from head to tail (and in no particular order of importance):
–          The overall pale appearance to the entire bird give that “white” impression at a distance; Thayer’s (THGU) usually look “dirtier” or even “brown.”
–          The pale face doesn’t have that nice dark smudge that we like to see on THGU.
–          The bill is clearly becoming pale at the base already. The pattern looks good for Iceland (ICGU), and is certainly on one end of the bell curve for THGU.
–          The tertials are wholly marbled, and look perfect for ICGU. “Classic” THGU show mostly dark tertials with marbled distal ~1/3^rd or so.
–          On the folded wing (and on some flight shots), the primaries definitely have dark outer webs, but they also have a pale fringe that not just rounds the tip, but continues down the length of the most of each feather’s outer web. That is more consistent with dark-winged “Kumlien’s” Gulls.
–          While the tail is mostly dark, the bases are fairly extensive white with lots of marbling. The extent of marbling is a good fit for ICGU.

While absolutely none of these factors eliminate a THGU on their own, the sum of all of them taken together makes for a most unusual THGU. Considering the range of variation in “Kumlien’s” ICGU combined with hybridization – and by some accounts extensive intergrading – put this bird well outside the possibly-artificially-delineated box that we currently label a Thayer’s Gull. At the very least, this is far short of a bird that could be “good enough” to constitute a third state record.

Can you see why I was so impressed that so many people stayed to the bitter end of my program on Saturday (and Sunday, for that matter!)? So there, I said it – the OldPort mystery gull is not a “good” Thayer’s, despite the wishes of many-a-birder! Sorry.

So anyway, after the Fish Pier, we ventured over to Mill Creek Cove in South Portland. Two more 1^st-winter Iceland and a 1^st-winter Glaucous were present (some are all likely birds we saw on the other side of the harbor) to reinforce our new-found skills.

And finally, some of the group joined me for a field trip extension over to Westbrook to look for the “Westbrook Gull,” a bird that, as I explained in the workshop, still defies identification and therefore is also quite instructive. Unfortunately, it was not present today (I see it less often on the weekend), but we finished up with a great showing for here of 4 Iceland Gulls (three 1^st-winter and 1 2^nd-winter) with the Herring and Ring-billed Gulls near the falls. Meanwhile, while we did look at other birds all day, the open water behind downtown Westbrook yielded the surprise of the day – a pair of Ring-necked Duck that has just been found by Colin Chase. Whether they are southbound, northbound, are somewhere in between, this was a great winter find, and a nice way to bring our workshop to a close.

Some people added Iceland and Glaucous Gull to their life list this day – and I think one person deleted Thayer’s Gull from their life list! – but more importantly, everyone left with a little more knowledge about how to identify gulls, and more importantly, hopefully a new-found appreciation for these remarkable, adaptable, and successful creatures.

With the success of this weekend (and some refinement due to the slide show portion of the program), I think it is safe to say that you can look for this workshop again in the future. Until then, good gulling everyone!

“The Westbrook Gull” Returns for Year 4…and Remains Unidentified. I think. Maybe.

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As you well know by now, I enjoy looking at gulls. I especially enjoy looking at white-winged gulls in winter here in Maine. From the seemingly-endless range of variation of first-winter “Kumlien’s” Iceland Gulls to the stately elegance and dominating demeanor of adult Glaucous Gulls, I can’t get enough. And there’s one particular white-winged gull that I have studied more than all of the others.

For the fourth year in a row, a relatively-small white-winged gull has spent the winter at Riverbank Park in Westbrook. This has afforded me the opportunity to study the bird’s progression, and to one day, hopefully, identify it! Yup, after four winters, I am still not certain as to what it is! And that is both fun and frustrating.

First of all, I have no doubts that the bird is indeed the same individual – despite the lack of a band or any sort of unique marking – due to the bird’s behavior and overall very pale plumage each year. While other “Kumlien’s” Iceland Gulls occasionally visit the river here, most of the birds just head up to the base of the falls for a bath with the other gulls, and then head back down the river. Once in a while, another Iceland Gull will spend some time at Riverbank, but they don’t tend to linger long. The bird’s behavior is also more than suggestive – not only does it sit in the same three spots (including a church steeple that rarely has any other gull) whenever it is near the park, but it is the only white-winged gull that is almost always present and comes down to feed on handouts with the contingent of Ring-billed Gulls. The chance that a similarly-super-pale bird would do exactly the same things for four years in a row at a place that usually doesn’t have any other white-winged gulls seems rather far-fetched. It also tends to show up at about the same time – early to mid-January each year. I think it is safe to assume that this is the same bird.

Therefore, what we now have is a record of the bird over four years of life, showing the plumage progression of each year. Now, I never recommend using only one photo to describe a given bird (in this case, in a given year), especially with gulls, as gray scale in particular changes so much with lighting (and how badly I butchered the ISO) among other factors ranging from time of the season to how recently the bird ate. Therefore<a href=”http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.350344068328887.95540.198877036808925&type=3“>, I recommend taking a look at the photo gallery on our store’s Facebook page here.

But for sake of conversation, let me simply include one photo from each of the past three winters.
2010-11:

2011-12:

2012-13:

And now, it has returned, in full-adult plumage. Here are a series of photos that I took at Riverbank on Monday (1/27):

In that aforementioned Facebook gallery, I included some of the thought process that I have had about exactly how old this bird is, and what subspecies of Iceland Gull that it might be. From an identification perspective, now that is in “adult” plumage, the exact age is moot – all adult plumages look the same, with minor differences between winter (especially streaking on the head and neck) and summer (white head and more vivid bare part coloration). It is safe to say that this bird is “at least” 4 years old, and now it is in the plumage that should allow us to more-safely identify it to subspecies. In theory.

But before we delve into the Iceland Gull subspecies question, I think it is worth taking a moment to be sure it is in fact, and Iceland Gull. The case has been made that this bird could be a runt Glaucous Gull (or one of the very small subspecies) or even an Iceland x Glaucous Gull hybrid.

The basis for the argument has revolved around the exceedingly pale plumage, the bird’s rather bulky size and shape, its dominance over even larger Herring Gulls, and especially the length of the wing. Here, I blew up a photo from Monday of the primaries. I extensively manipulated it to try and bring out the detail of the edges of each feather – so ignore the color.

Iceland Gulls are usually readily identifiable by their longer wings. Those wings extend well beyond the tail, and usually at least 4 primaries are visible beyond the tail. Olsen and Larson reference this projection as being “equivalent (to) the bill length or longer.” It’s not a perfect photo above, but I definitely don’t see four primaries beyond the tail, and the primary projection does not look as long as the bill in any of the photos. In fact, this “unusually short-winged impression” was consistent in every year that we have seen the bird. Take a look at the photo gallery over the years – you never see a “long-winged” Iceland Gull with four primaries extending beyond the tail.

Another clue for Iceland vs. Glaucous is the relatively short legs of Iceland: the tibia (upper part) is usually mostly covered by body feathers, while on Glaucous, the tibia is more exposed – at least when the bird is alert. To me, this bird sometimes looks short-legged, with little exposed tibia, which is in line with Iceland Gull, but other times looks oddly long-legged, in line with Glaucous (see above and additional photos). This is a fairly subjective (like so many other gull ID characteristics) point, and one that I am not putting much weight in either way.

On the Westbrook bird, the forehead usually appears gently rounded, and the eye looks fairly big on the head – as it should on an Iceland Gull. However, other photos show a very sloping forehead – this feature changes significantly with posture and “attitude,’ but I must say that I have never seen a Glaucous Gull that appeared truly “round-headed.”

While the bill is not dainty, it is not as formidable as Glaucous usually looks, and it shows little in the way of a gonydeal angle. Howell and Dunn state that Glaucous’s “bill base often has slightly expanded culmen that creates distinctive shape (especially males), with a depth at the base greater than the depth at the gonydeal expansion.” I don’t see that on this bird. In fact, their description for Iceland Gull of “relatively short and slender, parallel edged with a shallow to moderate gonydeal expansion,” seems to match this bird much better, although it’s not the most slender, nor the shortest, bill that I have seen on Iceland Gulls.
HEAD

The fleshy orbital ring is pink on this bird at the moment. Howell and Dunn describe Glaucous Gull as having an orange orbital ring, “Kumlien’s” Gull as having it “purplish-pink,” with the nominate Iceland showing a “pink to reddish.”

Of these characteristics, the only thing that suggests that this is not anything other than a pure Iceland Gull of one or the other subspecies is what appears – and has consistently appeared over the years – to be a short wing. Personally, I have a hard time relying on any one single field mark to rule a species in or out, but I can’t completely ignore how short this wing is.

So assuming for a second that this is indeed an Iceland Gull, it comes down to which subspecies it is: the nominate glaucoides or kumieni. I’m not going to get into the taxonomic debate here, so I will discuss this based on the current most-widely-used taxonomy that includes two subspecies of Iceland Gull: the nominate glaucoides that breeds in Greenland and winters mostly in Iceland and Northern Europe, while kumlieni breeds on Baffin Island and adjacent areas of northeastern Canada, and winters largely in the Northeastern US and Atlantic Canada. Birds that seem perfect for glaucoides are regularly seen in Newfoundland and Nova Scotia, but in the Northeast US, the conventional wisdom suggests that glaucoides is very rare, and some argue that most if not all birds that appear to be glaucoides are actually just the pale extremes of kumlieni.

The extensively pure white wingtips, very pale gray mantle, and very white appearance as a youngster are all points in favor of glaucoides. However, most features overlap with kumlieni. What’s troubling is that the Westbrook bird never appears as small and dainty as a textbook glaucoides; sometimes described as “cuter” with a big eye, more rounded head, and small size than most kumlieni. This bird is more along the lines of a big kumlieni, which few plumage characteristics at any age have been overly consistent with.

If I saw this bird for the first time this week, I think I would call it a “probable glaucoides” and move on. But I have spent so much time with this bird over the years (“You are a little obsessed with this bird,” Jeannette just said.) that I prefer to still answer “I don’t know,” that I stubbornly want to keep pondering this bird. Its appearance in preceding years and those short wings continue to bother me, even though my gut tells me that this is just an Iceland Gull.

Essentially, the problem with this gull for each of the last four years is that it’s never been seen (to my knowledge) side-by-side with another white-winged gull. We’re therefore left with conjecture, comparing this bird to Herring and Ring-billed Gulls. What we really need is photos of this bird next to another Iceland-type gull. A direct comparison would do wonders for figuring this thing out for sure. Or a DNA test.

Short of that, this is, essentially, only an exercise. I don’t think anything can be said definitively. Hopefully, by spring, this bird’s bare part coloration (orbital ring and the bill in particular) will develop a little further, which may shed further light on the birds’ identity. More importantly, I – and others – will be trying to get more photos of the bird and especially photos of the bird with other Iceland Gulls. Until then, I will continue to ponder, enjoy, study, and yes, be frustrated by “The Westbrook Gull.”

Now for those who are truly gluttons for punishment, I will be discussing this bird as part of my upcoming Gull Identification Workshop for York County Audubon on February 8^th and 9^th. But don’t worry, we’re not going to spend too much time with the unidentifiable…I promise. Instead, we’ll spend most of our time learning that MOST gulls are actually fairly easy to identify. I believe the Westbrook Gull is the exciting and challenging exception to the rule. And once you are comfortable identifying just about every gull just about every time, you’ll be ready to accept and excel such challenges. I hope you will join me for this workshop. For more information, and a link to register, visit the Tours, Events, Workshops, and Programs page of our website.

References:
Howell, Steve N.G. and Jon Dunn. 2007. The Reference Guide to Gulls of the Americas. Houghton Mifflin Company: New York and Boston.

Olsen, Klaus Malling and Hans Larsson. 2004. Gulls of North America, Europe, and Asia. Princeton University Press: Princeton and Oxford.

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Maine Birding Field Notes

Trip Reports, Essays, Rare Bird Reports, and More from Derek Lovitch's and Freeport Wild Bird Supply's birding in Maine and beyond.

Tag Archives: Glaucous Gull

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