Great day at Avon, once again. The ice pack moved closer, as did the birds. I birded at points with Craig Rieker and Chris Pierce, among others. Before highlights, I would like to address the California Gull that I reported to Jen earlier. After review of photos taken, it appears that this bird is not in fact an adult California, but a probable hybrid between Herring x one of the black-backed species (Greater or Lesser).
After i picked this bird out by mantle shade, we waited and waited
for it to stick its head out. When it finally did, it appeared to have
both the red & black gonydeal marks of a Cal Gull...and we rejoiced. Back in went the head, and I waited another 30 min for it to reappear
so I could take some pics. I should mention the bird was a couple hundred yards away, so the photo quality is sketchy. When the head finally came out again,
the bird stood up & I immediately began snapping pics. When I returned home and got around to uploading said pictures, I saw that the bird was standing on
PINK legs. Also, details of shape & size started to come together
& the bird looked too big - much bigger than I remember it looking in
the field. At the observed distance, it would be hard to narrow the bird down to a specific hybrid, but it seemed on the small side, with a slightly paler mantle than GBBG x HEGU hybrids I have observed. This made me wonder if LBBG was perhaps involved in the lineage. Photos will posted to the Birding Ohio page on Facebook.
Other highlights at Avon today:
Glaucous Gull 11 1st (5), 2nd (2), 3rd, ad (3)
Iceland Gull 1 3rd
Lesser Black-backed Gull 1 ad
Long-tailed Duck 1 fem
Glaucous Gulls were everywhere. Literally, 6-7 in view at all times.
Good birding, and apologies for the false alarm.
Gabe Leidy
Sheffield Lake
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