Sunday, December 6, 2015

Fwd: Black-headed Gull on BBC walk today




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-------- Original message --------
From: Roberta Manian <roberta.manian@gmail.com>
Date:12/06/2015 4:58 PM (GMT-05:00)
To: Peter Dorosh <prosbird@aol.com>, Dennis Hrehowsik <deepseagangster@gmail.com>
Cc:
Subject: Black-headed Gull on BBC walk today

Hi Peter,

Dennis and I studied gulls at Norton all day yesterday, making sure we could age the basic 2, 3 and 4 year gulls, in prep for giving a gull clinic on his walk today.  Imagine our surprise when, as soon as we got to the lake, there was a petite bird with red legs and a spot behind the ear.  My first thought was "my first Prospect Bonaparte's".  Then, as we got a better look at the bill, red,tipped with black, Dennis said "i think that's a Black-headed gull".  We've never seen an immature BHGU, but we checked with a few experts and quickly confirmed the ID.   The bird was quite tame, feeding with the locals, up on shore several times.  Here's a shot showing him holding his own against the local Brooklyn ruffians, fighting for food.  

Everyone got good looks and as we were moving on, Michele's First Sunday walk came by and we were able to get them all on the bird as well.  This was a thrill for me, as Michele, Eni and Vinny were my entry into birding!

b.