OC Lesser Black-backed Gull & Sunday Shots, 04/25/21

I have to thank larophile Bruce Nott once again. This morning I chased a LESSER BLACK-BACKED GULL which he reported at the Newburgh Waterfront. Soon after my arrival, I located a distant black-backed gull. There haven’t been many (any?) black-backed gulls around recently, so I was feeling confident that this was the bird. My problem was that the bird was on the water (hiding leg color) and all alone (eliminating being able to judge by size). I needed to confirm that the bird was not the much more likely Great Black-backed Gull, so I waited it out. The bird slowly drifted north, nearly to the bridge. Then it flew south and put down again, south of the waterfront. Again I watched as it drifted north. It took a short flight at one point, and I was pretty sure, but not positive that I saw yellow legs. I watched as it drifted all the way north once again. I saw it next to a Ring-billed Gull, and the size looked good (larger, but not overwhelmingly so). The bird flew south once again and put down on the docks. Unfortunately, by the time I got to the docks, the bird had flown again. Luckily, this time it put down with a pair of Herring Gulls, and now the size looked perfect. I looked at my flight shots, and sure enough, yellow legs! That’s a good bird for the county, and it was really cool to see it in adult breeding plumage – we don’t usually see that in Orange County.