Arrowhead Road, Graver's Hill, and the Grand Central Landfill ~ February 15, 2024

I returned to Arrowhead Road for another chance at finding the Lapland Longspurs. An adult Bald Eagle flew by low over the fields. Again, the numbers of Horned Larks kept getting flushed by passing cars, so I gave up and headed for Graver's Hill.

At Graver's Hill, most of the 200 Horned Larks were feeding along the shoulder of South Delps Road. Two Savannah Sparrows were also spotted there. After seeing nothing but Horned Larks for at least a half-hour, I finally spotted a Lapland Longspur running across the top of the snow in the field. What was even better was that it allowed me to get photos of it, too!

Lapland Longspur

From there, I drove to the Grand Central landfill. There, I found 4 Iceland Gulls, 4 Great Black-backed Gulls, and 6 Bald Eagles among the Herring, Ring-billed, and Lesser Black-backed Gulls.

Iceland Gull

I got a couple very distant photos of three of the four Iceland Gulls that I found there. There's an adult at center left, a first-winter bird at center, and another adult at center right.

Three Iceland Gulls

Here's two photos of one of the first-winter Iceland Gulls in flight, showing the whitish, unmarked wingtips.

Iceland Gull

And here's a distant Great Black-backed Gull at the top of the hill.

Great Black-backed Gull

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