{"id":11514,"date":"2022-02-26T20:02:20","date_gmt":"2022-02-27T01:02:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/orangebirding.com\/?p=11514"},"modified":"2022-02-26T20:02:20","modified_gmt":"2022-02-27T01:02:20","slug":"excellent-gulling-in-suffolk-county-02-26-22","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/orangebirding.com\/?p=11514","title":{"rendered":"Excellent Gulling in Suffolk County, 02\/26\/22"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

I went to Long Island today to visit my dad. Since he is not an early riser, I took the morning to try for some good gulls that have been reported recently at Old Field Point and Lighthouse in Suffolk County. It was a cold but very successful morning; I was able to locate 3 of my 4 target birds: ICELAND GULL, GLAUCOUS GULL, and LESSER BLACK-BACKED GULL (I missed on the Black-headed Gull). Additionally, I met a birder there named Jay Rand; he got me on an interesting gull that has been reported as well, but as of yet is unidentified. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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~Lesser Black-backed Gull at Old Field Point and Lighthouse, 02\/26\/22.~ <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The Glaucous Gull was the whitest gull I think I’ve ever seen. I’m not sure if this is just a light individual, or if there some possible sun bleaching going on, but the bird has been confirmed on eBird. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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~A very pale Glaucous Gull at Old Field Point and Lighthouse, 02\/26\/22.~ <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

As for the Gull species, it looked like a Herring Gull, but with a slightly darker mantle and yellowish legs\/feet. When I got home I checked my emails and found some reports and a write-up by Shaibal Mitra on the NYSBIRDS list serve. He describes the bird broadly as a Herring Gull type, and offers 3 typical possibilities for this bird:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  1. Smithsonianus Herring Gull, which apparently show some degree of yellow in the legs\/feet in the late winter and early spring.<\/li>
  2. Herring Gull x Lesser Black-backed Gull hybrid.<\/li>
  3. Yellow-legged Gull<\/li><\/ol>\n\n\n\n

    After viewing the bird, however, he has reservations about these three options and offers a fourth possibility: Northern European L. a. argentatus, to which he found similarities in the mantle color and wingtip pattern. Apparently we will find out what the experts identify it as in the coming days. I will keep you posted. And regardless, it was a really cool bird to see and added some excitement to my morning. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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    ~Gull Sp. at Old Field Point and Lighthouse, 02\/26\/22. If you look closely you can see the yellowish legs\/feet. When viewed next to Herring Gulls, the mantle was clearly darker (sorry no comparison shots).~ <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
    \"\"<\/a>
    ~Always a favorite, a beautiful Iceland Gull on the Long Island Sound at Old Field Point and Lighthouse, 02\/26\/22.~ <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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    ~There are four species of gull in this photo: (2) Herring Gulls up front, a Lesser Black-backed Gull to the right, the Glaucous Gull, and a Great Black-backed Gull behind the Glaucous. Old Field Point and Lighthouse, 02\/26\/22.~ <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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    ~I tried to get a better comparison shot, but this is the best I managed to get. Glaucous and Iceland Gulls within inched of each other. Old Field Point and Lighthouse, 02\/26\/22.~ <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    I went to Long Island today to visit my dad. Since he is not an early riser, I took the morning to try for some good gulls that have been reported recently at Old Field Point and Lighthouse in Suffolk County. It was a cold but very successful morning; I was able to locate 3 … Continue reading “Excellent Gulling in Suffolk County, 02\/26\/22”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[36,25,19,15],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-11514","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-gulls","category-new-york-state","category-photos","category-rarities"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p5i3kT-2ZI","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/orangebirding.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11514","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/orangebirding.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/orangebirding.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/orangebirding.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/orangebirding.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=11514"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/orangebirding.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11514\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11522,"href":"https:\/\/orangebirding.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11514\/revisions\/11522"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/orangebirding.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=11514"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/orangebirding.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=11514"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/orangebirding.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=11514"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}