COA Gull Workshop

Today was the COA's Gull Workshop with Nick Bonomo! We had a great day looking for gulls, with 2 Kumlien's Gulls (Iceland Gull subspecies). No Bonaparte's Gulls, but they will become more common in the next 1-2 weeks in CT. First, after a 90 minute presentation on gulls, we went birding at Stratford Point.

Here are the Stratford Point birds*:
3 Great cormorants, 3 White-winged Scoters, 2 Gadwalls, MANY Atlantic Brant (including a possible Black Brant), 1 Eastern Meadowlark, 1 Osprey, 2 American Oystercatchers (on sandbars near Milford Point), 1 Tree Swallow, not too many gulls, and probably are highlight  was an Ipswich Sparrow (the very local subspecies of Savannah Sparrow, winters in CT). Besides birds we had a Red Fox that was hunting in the fields, allowed us to get good looks and photos.

*NOT ALL BIRDS ARE INCLUDED IN THIS BLOG POST

Then after, we went to Long Beach.
Birds at Long Beach:
2 Kumlien's Gulls (Iceland Gull subspecies), many Herring Gulls (of all ages), Ring-billed Gulls, many Atlantic Brant, 3 Northern Gannets, Long-tailed Ducks, 1 Common Raven, and 8 flyover Great Blue Herons.

Ipswich Sparrow: See how pale this birds, a key mark for identifying Ipswich Sparrows

Red Fox

Eastern Meadowlark

Red Fox

Tree Swallow

                                                                     No Thayer's Gull this year!
                                                                                        
                                                                             - Tony

Mew Gulls in Connecticut

Mew Gulls are rare visitors from Siberia, Europe, and the West Coast of the U.S. 3 of 4 subspecies have been recorded in Connecticut, Larus canus canus (Common Gull, Europe), L.c.kamtschatschensis (Kamchataka Gull, Siberia) and L.c.brachyrhynchus (Short billed Gull, West Coast of U.S.).
Status of Mew Gulls in Connecticut:
Rare but increasing.

It's similar relative the abundant Ring-billed gull, is sometimes misidentified as a Mew Gull. But note that most Mew Gulls don't have a ring around their bill. A ornithological journal on birds in Connecticut (called the Connecticut Warbler) had a article on Mew Gulls in Connecticut, which provided some great info. There have been two Mew Gulls in Connecticut this year (1 in Stamford and 1 in New Haven). Interestingly, both were of the Kamchataka subspecies (It is unknown if the New Haven bird was the same one as the Stamford one).
Looking for Mew Gulls in Connecticut:
------------------------------------------------
Mew Gull is more regular than thought in Connecticut, and any subspecies is a fair game. I recommend searching through Westport to Madison, where plankton feeding seems to occur most often. I suggest looking for Mew Gulls at ANY time of the year, especially through Ring-billed Gull flocks. Out of the many Mew Gull records, one was found inland*.

Top: Ring-billed Gull
Bottom: Kamchataka Gull

Good luck if you go looking for Mew Gulls in Connecticut

By Tony Belejack

*Info by Nick Bonomo (view the Connecticut Warbler April 2017 edition on full article written by Nick Bonomo)

Dark-eyed Juncos in CT

Male Slate-colored Junco

Likely a young male Slate-colored Junco

Dark-eyed Juncos are common throughout Canada and the United States. Also called DEJU by birders who use alpha codes. The only common DEJU is the typical Slate-colored Junco (SCJU). Juncos are highly variable in plumage, which makes identifying different rare subspecies in Connecticut hard. So virtually all the juncos you see will be Slate-colored Juncos (Junco hyemalis ssp. hyemalis), any rare subspecies would need a good photo and good details.
Juncos are commonly found in suburban habitats. The highest count of Dark-eyed Juncos at my feeders is 16.
                                                                       Rare subspecies:
There have been multiple reports of Oregon Junco in Connecticut (according to the maps on eBird). And one report of the Cassiar Junco (J.h. cissmontanus). Cassiar junco shows both characteristics of Oregon and Slate-colored Juncos. If you think you saw a Oregon or Cassiar Junco I would like to know!  Also check out this article on junco ID!: www.oceanwanderers.com/JuncoID.html

Typical Slate-colored Junco male adult

By Tony Belejack