Sunday, January 10, 2010

Wild gull chase - Mew/Common Gull in Brooklyn - 1/10


A little tired after the Texas trip I nevertheless made a run to Brooklyn to find the Mew/Common Gull that has been reported there. People are leaning toward the European subspecies for ID. I think this was only my second Larus canus for the US, the other one was on Long Island many years ago. This bird took a little time to turn up, so I amused myself by finding my first Purple Sandpipers for NYC, a few other year birds, and scrutinizing the metric tonne of Ring-billed Gulls that were hanging out there. Finally the Mew/Common Gull turned up and was about as tame as a gull could be, with the exception of the first winter Ring-billed that almost jumped up on my foot.

The gull appears to have a slight deformation of the bill, but is otherwise healthy.

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