I stopped by the Hatch Hill landfill to scan gulls Thursday morning between 10:30 and 11:30. It turned out to be very good viewing conditions with the gulls flying into a stiff wind while feeding in front of the active bulldozer. Large numbers (hundreds) hovered in full view facing into the wind as well as foraging on the ground. I was able to pick out glaucous, Iceland and lessor black-backed gulls. There was also a hybrid glaucous X herring gull and different Iceland and glaucous gulls resting on top of the capped landfill located SW of the dumping area. There were about 1,500 herring, 50 (rough estimate) great black-backed and three ringbills in the gathering.
On Wednesday I scanned gulls in an opening in the ice on the Kennebec opposite the construction site. Groups of birds bathed as they floated to the lower end of the opening. The highlight was an adult and first-winter Iceland gull among the 110 herring gulls and 6 ring-bills. Compared to last week, there were no common mergansers in this pool or in a narrow opening in the ice at the end of canal street (where they were located last week).
-- Hatch Hill Landfill
~1,500 American herring gulls (estimate)
~50 Great black-backed gulls (rough estimate)
3 Glaucous gulls (1 first-winter, 2 second-winter and an adult)
3 Iceland gulls (3 first winter birds, one darker morph)
1 Glaucous X herring gull hybrid First-winter or first cycle bird; This bird was noticeably larger than the surrounding herring gulls, but similar in size to a nearby adult glaucous gull. The bill was dark tipped with a yellow base, and evenly stout to the base, much different than similar aged herring gulls. The bird had an overall frosty appearance. The wing tips were mostly obscured by adjacent gulls so I could not confirm their brownish vs. black color.
2 Lesser black-backed gulls These were located near the active bulldozer and included adult and second winter birds. Both bodies were more slender and smaller than the surrounding herring gulls. The bills were also comparatively slender, while the tips of the wings extended well beyond the tail. The adult had a much darker mantle than the herring gulls. The upper parts on the second-winter bird were 'incompletely' dark because the second-winter moult into darker feathers was incomplete.
3 Ring-billed gulls
5 Bald eagles, all immature (1 first winter and the rest were 2/3 year olds); odd that I could not find any adults.
1 Red-tailed hawk; imm
~350 Am crows - Conservative estimate
3 Common ravens (incomplete count)
~400 European starlings
Freedom 1-9-13 At a friends feeder
30 Common redpolls
25 Pine grosbeaks
S. China 1-9-13
35 Snow buntings along Rt. 3
Jonesport, Maine 1-5-13 Lots of snow
1 Peregrine falcon - Flake Point Bar
1 Large accipitor - Flake Point Bar
Waterville I-95 1-5-13
1 Red-tailed hawk
-- Norman Famous, Wetlands and Wildlife Ecologist
513 Eight Rod Road
Augusta, ME 04330
(207) 623 6072
Maine birds mailing list
maine-birds@googlegroups.com
http://groups.google.com/group/maine-birds
https://sites.google.com/site/birding207
0 comments:
Post a Comment