Hoskinson's Sandpit Report: February 17

Today I went to the sandpit for about 3-1/2 hours.  When I got there it was fairly pleasant.  There were a lot of gulls loafing around about a hundred yards out and I saw a couple of adult Thayer's.  I was beginning to think that though there were chances of rain for the afternoon they might have been inaccurate, when Joseph called and said that "it's snowing and raining at our place and probably will be there soon.''  This inspired me to search for shelter, which I found in the form of a metal trailer of sorts.  It snowed for a little while and after it stopped I could look at the gulls again.  The same intermediate 2nd cycle Thayer's/Kumlien's that we saw on the 12th had flown in, but it was too far out to get more conclusive pictures.  The wind had really kicked up and was blowing very hard, making it very difficult to I.D. the sitting gulls.  After a while a bunch of gulls flew in and among the Herring and Ring-billed  I saw my first Lesser Black-backed of the day.  By now I was getting pretty cold so I called mom to see when she was coming by to pick me up.  She said it would be another hour.  Wow! By the time she got there I was really cold, and had only seen one more Thayer's as compensation.  Overall this was one of the worst days as far as gull numbers that I have had this year with only about four Thayer's, two Lesser Black-backed, and about five hundred of both Ring-billed and Herring.

Lesser Black-backed Gull.  Photo by Andrew

Andrew

Reno County Landfill report: February 12

 Bryant, Andrew and I spent the afternoon at the Reno County Landfill and the adjacent sandpit. We had, shall we say, an amazing time. We pulled up to the sandpit and carefully scanned the 1000 or so gulls sitting on the water. A 3rd cycle Lesser Black-backed was the only bird of interest for a while, but then Bryant spotted a very pale gull coming in. We looked at it carefully for the next few minutes and it concluded that it was probably a 2nd cycle Iceland. That would be the second one in three days! We moved around the sandpit and got better looks, though no good photos. It eventually flew off towards the landfill so we headed over there.

We promptly found several 1st cycle Thayer's and a few more LBBG of various ages. I happened to glance over at some other gulls and spotted a 1st cycle Kumlien's standing just a short distance away! We cautiously approached within about 20 to 30 feet and got some great photos before it flew off. Although we will have to find out for sure on the 2nd cycle, we probably had two Kumlien's Icelands in one day! This is still a review species in Kansas with only about fifteen previous records.

Note the pale, patterned tertials and white primaries

2nd cycle Kumlien's /Thayer's? Thoughts on the ID?

Other highlights were: 10+ Thayer's Gull (these really need to be taken off the eBird filter), 7+ Lesser Black-backed Gulls (2 adults, 1 4th cycle, 2 3rd cycles and 2 1st cycles), A hybrid type, possibly GBBG x HEGU or very atypical Herring, Both a Ring-billed and a Herring with one dark, presumably defective eye and one banded 4th cycle Herring (I didn't notice it till I checked my photos on the way home). A total of five gull species for the day, my personal record!

One of the many Thayer's Gulls.This one is perhaps a bit darker than typical.

3rd cycle LBBG

3rd cycle LBBG

Hybrid Great Black-backed x Herring or aberrant Herring? Your thoughts are welcome on this. Photo by Andrew

Hybrid Great Black-backed x Herring or aberrant Herring? Your thoughts are welcome on this. Photo byAndrew

Banded 4th cycle Herring Gull

 Joseph

First cycle Iceland (Kumlien's) Gull

Yesterday I went to Hoskinson's Sandpit in Hutchinson.  Upon arriving, one of the first gulls I identified was an adult Lesser Black-backed!  Over the next hour there was a constant stream of gulls coming from the landfill including a couple adult Thayer's.  I also had a Killdeer, which is the earliest I have ever had one.  During the last fifteen minutes that I could be there, I looked up and to my surprise saw a very pale gull flying over!  I quickly put my binoculars on it and saw right away that it was either a very pale Thayer's or a Iceland(Kumlien's).  I frantically took several pictures before it started to circle higher and higher.  I quickly called Bryant, who was at piano lessons in town, but it disappeared out of sight about two minutes before he got there.  We rushed over to the landfill, which was in the direction it had disappeared.  When we got there we scanned the sky, hoping to catch a glimpse of the gull.  We were beginning to despair when Bryant yelled," There it is!"  Sure enough, there it was, circling high over head.  It disappeared out of sight about a minute later.  When we got home we looked over our pictures, but we were not sure enough to call it a Kumlien's.  So we sent it to Jon King, the ebird reviewer, and he agreed that it is a Kumlien's!  This is about the fifteenth record for Kansas of an Iceland Gull.

Iceland(Kumlien's) Gull

Iceland(Kumlien's) Gull

Andrew