ML187342831

Age

Not specified

Sex

Not specified

Observation details

Lightly marked first winter bird, white overall with black on tips of primaries, tips of tail feathers, and some coverts, dusky face from eye forward, dark eyes, short black legs, prominent claws on feet, small dark bill with small amount of horn colour on top at tip - found at 2:46 p.m. and observed until 4:30 when the landfill closed - spent the majority of its time in and around a small area of open water ringed with ice in the company of approximately 50 to 80 other gulls, mostly HERGs - the bird was approximately 40 - 60 metres away - kept to itself most of the time, HERGs made aggressive gestures when it was near - the IVGU picked at items on ice surface and appeared to eat them, also picked at items from the surface of the water when in flight and when swimming and appeared to eat them, had a bath in open water a couple of times - at one point all the gulls were put up by a flyover BAEA, and the IVGU flew off with the other gulls a short distance, circled, and then returned to the open water area - it also took flight on a couple of other occasions for no apparent reason and did a short circuit of the open water area - several birders returned at 8:00 the following morning, 12 November, but the bird could not be relocated, and wasn’t seen when others checked throughout the day - not seen in town at other known spots where gulls congregate - apologies to fellow Ontario birders, but landfill admin asked that we not publicize the find as there is NO PUBLIC ACCESS to the landfill

Technical information

Model

Canon PowerShot SX60 HS

ISO

1250

Focal length

247 mm

Flash

Flash did not fire, auto

f-stop

f/8.0

Shutter speed

1/320 sec

Dimensions

4608 pixels x 3456 pixels

Original file size

2.23 MB