Glaucous and Iceland Gulls at the Nazareth Quarry! ~ November 21, 2025

It was a cloudy day with a low cloud ceiling, so I decided to go up and check out the Nazareth Quarry. There were about a thousand Canada Geese there when I arrived. I scoped the quarry and found one "Blue" Goose, 34 Ruddy Ducks, 23 Ring-necked Ducks, 6 Buffleheads, 2 Common Mergansers, and 7 American Coots. I scanned through the Canada Geese, hoping to find something different, but didn't. I was about to leave when a few thousand more Canadas and 75 Snow Geese dropped into the quarry. Soon after that, numbers of gulls began landing, too. I scanned through the gulls and found an Iceland Gull! As more gulls dropped in, I found two more Iceland Gulls among them!

Two of the 3 Iceland Gulls at center.

The gulls were skittish and took off several times, eventually dropping back in and landing each time.

The 3 Iceland Gulls (left center, landing just left of center, and right center).

Sunset was approaching when more gulls began arriving. There were at least 600 Lesser Black-backed Gulls present along with 6 American Herring Gulls and 5 Ring-billed Gulls. I noticed another "white-winged" gull flying with them as they circled around. I somehow managed to get two photos of it when it reached the break in the trees. It seemed bigger, but I was only getting brief glimpses of it through the trees and wasn't totally sure what it was. That group continued to circle and I ended up losing it as the light faded. I searched the ones on the water and didn't find it among them. When I got back home, I went through my photos and found those two shots. Noting that it was larger than the adjacent Lesser Black-backed Gulls, had a large, dark-tipped bill, and a large head, I realized that it was a first-winter Glaucous Gull!

A first-winter Glaucous Gull!

I then realized that I almost walked back to the car and would have missed the best birds of the day. In birding, timing is almost everything.

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