I spent the afternoon (1:00 to 4:15) at the flooded fields by Green Pond and had a record day there. In addition to seeing the 1st-winter Iceland Gull and the 2nd-winter Iceland that were there earlier in the week, I also found two different adult
Iceland Gulls. I had only seen one other adult in the county before; that was at the Chain Dam back in 2004. The first adult that I found had very dark markings on the primaries while the second adult had gray barring on the primaries.
Iceland Gull at the flooded fields by Green Pond, Northampton County. Note the charcoal gray markings on the pale primaries and the streaking on the head and neck. The mantle appears much darker here than it actually was because of the bird being backlit.
Iceland Gull at the flooded fields by Green Pond, Northampton County. Note the very limited charcoal gray markings on the pale primaries and the streaking on the head and neck.
Iceland Gull at the flooded fields by Green Pond, Northampton County. Note the light grayish markings on the pale primaries compared to the much darker markings on the previous adult. Also note the fairly clean neck compared to the fairly extensive streaking on the previous bird's neck.
Iceland Gull at the flooded fields by Green Pond, Northampton County. Again, note the light grayish markings on the pale primaries compared to the much darker markings on the previous adult. Also note the fairly clean white neck compared to the fairly extensive streaking on the previous bird's neck.
When I originally spotted the first adult, thoughts of Thayer's popped in my head but were quickly ruled out when noticing other points (not enough black in the primaries, wrong head and bill shape, and eventually getting to see the light eye). I admit that the Thayer's/Kumlien's complex still confuses the crap out of me.
The Icelands were among about 250 Lesser Black-backed Gulls (counts of 257 and 233 were taken at two different times), about 250-300 Ring-billed Gulls, and about 20 Herring Gulls. Around 3:30, most of the gulls lifted off thanks to a Red-tailed Hawk and headed east, but the adult Iceland Gull with the gray primaries was still there when I left with about 100 other gulls.
Other notables included the following:
27 Snow Geese (two with yellow bands marked "12CC" and "51CC")
4 Green-winged Teal
3 Northern Pintail
1 American Coot
2 Killdeer
2 Tree Swallows.
These two adult birds plus the continuing 1st-winter and 2nd-winter birds produced a site record four Iceland Gulls at one time!
