ML613405118

Age

Not specified

Sex

Not specified

Observation details

***MEGA. Legendary returning bird, now spending its fourth winter at Cove Island since its arrival in 2019 (it’s been seen every year except 2020). Common Gull is already an exceptional find on the East Coast, but the kamtschatschensis subspecies is notably more rare, with only a handful of records. It’s difficult to accurately assess the true number of “Kamchatka Gulls” in the NE in the last decade and half, but preliminary research indicates that the number is lower than we’d expect. The LI Sound shoreline between Stamford and West Haven has been a hub for Kamchatka Gull activity in the NE, but a quite few other records exist: Providence RI in 2006, Lynn MA between 2009-2023 ( likely more than one bird involved), Gloucester MA in 2007 and 2009, and Nantucket MA in 2013/14 and 2021. With this picture in mind, it would seem that Kamchatka Gull has become a “frequent” rarity in the NE, yet the number of birds involved in this geographic spread is intriguing. Taking the CT coastline as an example, the first Kam Gull showed up in 2015 at Southport Beach in April, being refound a few days later to East at the Oyster River mouth. A singular record was documented in 2017 at Russian Beach before the floodgates opened in 2019, when this bird landed at Cove Island in January and was refound in March at Lighthouse Point. Each winter since, barring 2020 when no Kam Gulls were reported along the CT coastline, this bird has returned to the Stamford area until February, when it disappears only to be found farther East along the coast in March and April. Thanks to incredible plumage analysis by Jeremy Nance, the birds he found at Seaside Park in April 2021 and February 2023 were determined to be the same, and almost certainly the same individual as the Cove Island one. Thus, the one found less than a week after his 2021 sighting at Bradley Point was almost assuredly the same bird. And so, what could be seen as many birds appears to almost certainly involve just one bird, which is benefitted by the fact that all records have involved similarly plumaged adults. Yet this story gets more interesting once it leaves CT. In 2021, Nantucket got its second record of Kam Gull in the same spot as its first. Thanks to some dedicated plumage review by Skylar Kardell, he concluded that his bird was quite likely the same bird from CT in 2015 and 2017 (and possibly the same as Nantucket’s first, although a primary feather discrepancy did exist between those). Where it gets a little crazier, however, is when all the records are reviewed at once. In scanning eBird’s data, it appears that none of the Kam Gull records from CT to MA overlap, with the two most reliable birds – Cove Island (Stamford) and King Beach (Lynn) – always being separated by a few days in the years when they overlap, or perfectly filling in each other’s Kam Gull gaps (for example, a Kam Gull was present in Lynn during 2020, when the Stamford bird was MIA, but Lynn had no Kam Gull in 2021 or 2022, when the Stamford bird was present all winter). Now, considering that some of these sightings are within 3-4 days of one another, insinuating one bird has been making 165 mile trips between these two spots in a few days is a big claim I’m not willing to make (it’s also possible feather analysis that I don’t know of has ruled out the Lynn and Stamford birds as being the same), but I think this odd coincidence does beg the question of just how many adult Kam Gulls have been in the NE in the past 15 years or so. Anyway, I’ve got far less to say about my sighting today! Many thanks to Chrsistophr Wisker, as he told me where to look for this bird, and after scanning through about 25 RBGUs on the docks, I came across this absolute stunner of a Kam Gull. A smidge larger than its surrounding RBGU brethren, with a dark gray mantle, yellow legs, heavy set (for the “Mew” complex) yellow beak lacking any dark markings (save a few indentations and striations), strongly patterned head with dark and defined markings extending down the nape and to the throat, and a pretty amber iris. I could go in depth about feather detail, but considering this is a known bird, I hope that’s not necessary. After watching for five minutes, I went to get my scope, and that’s when the bird flew off towards Holly Pond. Photos to come

Technical information

Model

NIKON D500

ISO

3200

Focal length

500 mm

Flash

Flash did not fire

f-stop

f/6.3

Shutter speed

1/1600 sec

Dimensions

4634 pixels x 3089 pixels

Original file size

3.55 MB