Five Iceland Gulls at the Nazareth Quarry! ~ November 22, 2025

I spent the whole day going from site to site. I started at the St. Luke's Anderson Campus walking path. A large group of around 150 Fish Crows was in the trees along the river. A group of gulls circling overhead contained 60 Ring-billed Gulls, 4 Lesser Black-backed Gulls, and an American Herring Gull. Other birds found there included 32 Mourning Doves, a Sharp-shinned Hawk, a Horned Lark, 3 American Goldfinches, 7 Dark-eyed Juncos, and 7 White-throated Sparrows.

Over at the Green Pond area were 2 American Black Ducks, 4 Killdeer, an Eastern Bluebird, and an American Goldfinch.

Four Killdeer were in the grassy field by the Newburg Road retention pond.

I headed over to the Regency Boulevard retention ponds and saw 28 Buffleheads, 4 Green-winged Teal, and 10 Snow Geese among around 600 Canada Goose.

Buffleheads

Green-winged Teal

Up the road at the Silver Crest Road pond, I found a group of Cackling Geese together on the bank of the pond.

Seven Cackling Geese with a larger, darker Canada Goose at the top left for comparison.

Other birds seen there included 17 Common Mergansers, 6 Ruddy Ducks, 2 Green-winged Teal, and a Bufflehead among 300 Canada Geese.

I headed over to the Nazareth Quarry to see if the Glaucous Gull might show up again. As I parked the car, I noticed 57 Turkey Vultures and 2 Black Vultures circling nearby.

A portion of the 57 Turkey Vultures.

I was searching through the 3000 Canada Geese and 98 Snow Geese for something unusual when Adam Miller showed up. Together, we picked out 75 Ruddy Ducks, 50 Ring-necked Ducks, 6 Buffleheads, 3 American Black Ducks, 3 Common Mergansers, 11 American Coots, and 7 Double-crested Cormorants.

Double-crested Cormorants

Down in the southwest corner of the quarry, I spotted a pair of Redheads and Adam picked out a Gadwall.

As sunset approached, a couple hundred gulls dropped in and landed on the quarry. There were 15 American Herring Gulls and 3 Ring-billed Gulls among around 200 Lesser Black-backeds. We scanned through them and came up with five first-winter Iceland Gulls! I got a photo showing four of the five.

Four of the 5 Iceland Gulls, two near the bottom left and two at the top right.

A Yellow-bellied Sapsucker, a Northern Flicker, and a American Robin were also seen there.

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