ML621645106

Age

Not specified

Sex

Not specified

Observation details

***Rare and unexpected species in July but not without precedent. First county record in two years (last record was mine from MacEachron in Aug 2022) and personal fifth county record for me, all of which have come from either here or MacEachron. Second Landing record, after first in Sept 2021. Once thought of as rarest in summer in Westchester, but three of my five records have been in summer and recent winters have yielded no records. Additionally, at least one other LBBG has been present on the Hudson this year in Newburgh, and of note that bird was of a similar age class, making one wonder if this could be that bird. This bird flew in to the beach just as rounded the bend onto the flats. As it landed, I was struck by its size, the paleness of the “black” on its back, and a bold black subterminal band with a clear white upper tail. But moments later I saw Reed and passed the bird off as a weird GBBG that needed to be investigated later. After chatting with Reed for a few minutes and scouring for shorebirds, I once again remembered I needed to check the weird gull and when I saw it well in binoculars, I knew it was an LBBG. The bird was in typical second summer plumage, sporting a freshly molted-in dark gray mantle and scapulars but still showing heavily worn wing coverts and tertials. The beak was thin and light yellow covered with splotches of black-brown and red, but lacking the bulging tip of GBBG or a prominent gonydeal angle. Streaky head with amber eyes and pale pinkish legs, which is expected on a bird of this age. Lastly, the bird had long black primaries that extended almost to the ground, giving it a short, squat appearance. In size, the bird was a bit larger than the RBGU, showing the serious size differential between it and GBBG or HERG. It stretched and preened on the beach, never flying again while I was there, but doing some weird maneuvers that showed off its tail a few times. Fantastic bird to get here after a slow start to river birding this year, and I was happy to get Reed on a new — and very quality — patch bird as well! Photos to come

Technical information

Model

Canon EOS R5

Lens

RF100-500mm F4.5-7.1 L IS USM

Focal length

500 mm

Flash

Flash did not fire

f-stop

f/8.0

Shutter speed

1/1000 sec

Dimensions

5262 pixels x 3510 pixels

Original file size

5.59 MB