Part 2: All Kinds of Gulls on Cape Ann. Iceland Gull in Turner's Falls in MA

Looking at Gulls on Niles Pond, Gloucester

I like photographing gulls in the winter because that's when they congregate and allow you to come fairly close, but when I trying to guess their ages I often just throw my hands up. Looking later at my photographs, Howell's and Dunn's Gulls of the Americas comes in handy.


They are quite fearless, taking flight only if they see a raptor in the vicinity. We saw plenty of gulls on our trip, most of them on the far side of frozen Niles Pond  sleeping or preening. I took hundreds of photograph, why I am not sure, because checking the images on screen on my camera I could easily see that none were sharp enough to be of any use. Still, hope against hope,  the blue sky and the warm sun made the scene look so pretty with the long row of gulls on the blue ice in front of a curtain of buff-colored reeds.

On day 2 when we revisited the site I broke up a muffin saved from breakfast and tossed the pieces  on the ice. i am not good at throwing, no further than a couple of feet from the shore. At first nothing happened, then finally a gull flew overhead, saw the bread landed at a cautious distance. A few others followed. Finally a couple of Ring-billed Gulls ventured closer and picked up pieces of the muffin.

 It was quite slippery and the gulls kept sliding around on the ice.

Notice the stuffed cheeks

Most of the gulls that we saw were American Herring Gulls (AHG), Ring-billed Gulls (RBG) and Great Black-backed Gulls (GBG). Here are some photos of the AHG and the GBG:

Adult AHG and two immature GBGs

Adult RBG in front and immature GBG in the back

Mixed Group on Niles Pond. Most of these were AHGs of various ages. There are two adult GBG.

I wasn't sure about the ID the gull with the pink legs and the black-tipped bill. Here is a close-up, unfortunately not very sharp:

AHG, probably 2nd winter

The bill seemed to me uncharacteristically small for an AHG.  Also the dove-like head and expression did not jive with my image of an AHG. I posted the photo on the iD Forum on birdforum.net.  The responses I got confirmed that this was just an immature AHG; hoping for something more interesting was just wishful thinking. Apparently there is quite a range of bill sizes among the immature AHG.  

Adult AHG

First winter GBG

Adult GBG

We also saw an Iceland Gull on Niles Pond but it was too far away for my camera. This past Sunday I drove to Unity Park in Turner's Falls in MA where gulls often congregate near the shore of the CT River. I was fortunate. Among them was a first winter Iceland Gull. We usually see one or two juveniles every winter. Adults rarely travel this far south.

I love that sweet expression - typical for an immature Iceland Gulls.

First winter Iceland Gull in front on the left and a second cycle AHG on the right

These photos are of an immature Glaucous Gull on the breakwater at Gloucester harbor, were taken a couple of years ago. It's a sturdy large gull, larger than an Iceland G, and has a pink bill with a black tip.

I had taken so many photos in RAW format that I ran out of space on my 8 GB card. I went back to my car for a spare 2 GB card which I filledl. When I tried to download the photos at home however I kept getting the question whether I wanted to reformat the card. Bad sign! No photos! I remembered the software I had bought from Seagate for when I had my Seagate hard drive disaster last October.  It worked - I got all my photos back! I threw out the card and put another spare one into my gear bag rather than the car where it would be exposed to such variable temperatures.

It's still freezing here! Hope it's less extreme where you are. Happy birding!

Thanks for visiting. I am always thrilled to receive your comments and welcome any corrections or suggestions.

Winter Gulls - Lesser Black-backed and Iceland/Kumlien Gulls

There are some birds that only come to New England in the winter, among them the Lesser Black-backed Gull from N.W. Europe and the northern Atlantic, and the Iceland/Kumlien Gull from northern Canada. The Lesser Black-backed Gull  reportedly first bred in Iceland in the late 1920's and has been breeding in Greenland since 1990. There is no record of breeding in N. America, but since 1980 there has been a dramatic increase of nonbreeding individuals in the fall and winter. They have become fairly common along the Atlantic coast and the shores of the Great Lakes, but are uncommon further inland.

They do appear however to be fairly regular winter visitors to the CT River area near Gill and Turner's  Falls in MA. Following a recent report of a sighting I was happy to find the gull there in a mixed group roosting on the ice.

What distinguishes them from other gulls are gray upper parts, yellowish legs, head and neck streaking, and a medium size bill that is slender and often tapered. They are much smaller than the Great Black-backed Gull and also smaller than the Herring Gull, standing behind it in this photo. The two gulls in front are Ring-billed Gulls. 

This photo of a LBBG among a flock of Herring Gulls was taken in the same area in the winter of 2008.

The other fairly uncommon winter visitor is the Kumlien Gull

Where are the Birds? with correction

December.  I am desperate for birds. The woods have been quiet and skies empty. I'll soon be going into serious withdrawal. So I drove to Turner's Falls, MA,  to check out the power canal as James Smith of  Pioneer Birding had reported sightings of Cackling Geese and Iceland Gulls.

It was mid afternoon, the sun much lower in the sky than I had foreseen. Several groups of Common Goldeneyes were on the water and I got some photos before they had a chance to turn tails and swim toward the opposite shore as is they are prone to do when seeing anyone approaching them.

Male Common Goldeneye

Male flying

Flock of three females and one male

On the water there were several hundred Canada Geese, but I was lucky: Shortly after my arrival when passing the first group of Canada Geese  I saw a bird near the periphery which was strikingly smaller than the others. I was able to get a shot but the waning light resulted in a picture of poor quality. The petite size and build convinced me that this was a Cackling Goose but I stand corrected:

Thomas Wetmore pointed out that the photo probably shows an Atlantic subspecies of a Canada Goose, not a Cackling Goose. Cackling Geese are small still, show a stubby bill, short neck and blocky head with large cheek patch.

Far off shore were several gulls, mostly Herring Gulls, several Great Black-backed Gulls and a couple of lst cycle Iceland Gulls.

This photo shows an Iceland Gull standing on ice surrounded by Herring Gulls and GBBB juveniles which I took at Turner's Fall this past February. (More photos on my website, bottom of page.)

I am going to give it another shot next week. Timing is always finding the right balance: too early and the light is good, but the birds have not yet flown in to roost; too late and there is too little light.

November morning, Connecticut River, Hinsdale, NH

Thanks for stopping by. Please leave a comment.