Message:

[

Previous   Next

]

By Topic:

[

Previous   Next

]

Subject:

Jug Bay 2/12/11 - Rusty Blackbirds, possible Thayer's Gull (or something)

From:

Frank Marenghi

Reply-To:

Frank Marenghi

Date:

Sat, 12 Feb 2011 17:22:45 -0500

 
Pretty quiet at Jug Bay this morning although Amanda and I did come across at least 4 Rusty Blackbirds near the end of the lower Railroad bed trail in the area of the scrub/shrub boardwalk. There were about a hundred gulls flying around here and at least another hundred roosting on the little bit of ice left just down stream of the railroad trail. I had a very interesting gull fly directly overhead of us while standing on the RR trial. It appeared to be roughly the same size as the Herring Gulls in the area but when it came over it very clearly had completely pale translucent wingtips with no darkness on the underwing at all. It appeared to be too large and not delicate enough for an Iceland but as I said I only got a look at the underside as it passed directly overhead. It was definitely not large or bulky enough to be a Glaucous Gull. Something to keep your eyes out for I guess. : ) Unfortunately, we could not relocate it when scanning the loafing gulls on the ice. 
 
Also had a Barred Owl, Pileated, and Sapsucker, and several large flocks of Robins (several hundred all together) taking advantage of the thawing conditions - they were all picking through the leaf litter on the forest floor along with the usual species. 
 
Good Birding,
 
Frank Marenghi
Annapolis, MD