Don Reimer found and photographed an adult MEW GULL among a throng of Ring-billed Gulls assembled in the parking lot behind Thomaston Grocery on Main Street in Thomaston this morning (Saturday 3 Aug). The parking lot is behind the building, not on Main St. This congregation typically meets in the early morning and then disperses around the harbor and grassy areas in the town. At high tide, many of the Ring-billed Gulls roost on the large buildings at Lyman boat builders.
This is a 3rd state record and a really odd time of year for a Mew Gull to occur in New England or anywhere in the Northeast, including Newfoundland where they are regular. Most don't show up there until late August or later at the earliest. Those are all Old World Mew Gulls (canus subspecies group; often referred to, unfortunately, as Common Gull).
Don's photos of the Thomaston bird show a classic Mew Gull with a short all yellow to yellow-green bill, dark eye, dark gray mantle, and small rounded head. The wing coverts are worn, and the bird is in wing molt with what appear to be new inner primaries. The wing pattern is not discernible in the photos, but it is key to determining whether this is a North American Short-billed (Mew) Gull, which is accidental in the East, or the Eurasian canus form of Mew (aka Common) Gull. Personally, I can't wait to find out!
Louis Bevier
Fairfield
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