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I was interested in both Ian & Richard's comments on these gulls. I've
been working on my gulls in recent years & now have some hope of
recognizing the less common species. The location Ian mentioned would
be Rte 358 between Canard & Hillaton (per NS Atlas). But the fields
there are so huge that the gulls are far away. The Fred Thomas Rd
mentioned by Richard is parallel to 358 & one block west, so to speak.
Its entire length is just the W side of that "square". I was on Fred
Thomas Rd this PM & must have caught a fresh dumping of poultry litter
or processed poultry waste. The "field' is much narrower here so the
gulls are not so far away.
I was able to photograph the whitest Glaucous Gull you'll ever see. I
presume it's a first cycle bird, late winter, bleached to the max
(photo 34.12 Howell & Dunn). There are 3 photos & you can see that any
colour should have been captured, as per the gulls around it. Any
correction will be much appreciated.
I also photographed one Lesser Black-backed Gull. These 2 birds were
the only members of their species that I noted. I was likely there
30-40 minutes.
http://rickwhitman.smugmug.com/Nature/Birds-January-March-2012/20950511_VD8zMC#!i=1740440030&k=s3R9Mjf
I also enjoyed the beautiful Redhead at the Port Wms sewage pond.
Inexcusable, but this was the first time I looked for it.
Rick Whitman
On Tue, Feb 28, 2012 at 2:03 PM, Richard Stern <sternrichard@gmail.com> wrote:
> Hi,
>
> That flock is in the area all and every winter, although at times there are
> more along Fred Thomas Rd., and at times some are elsewhere in the
> neighborhood. I have usually managed to find at least 1 LBBG and the odd
> Glaucous (although not this year), but often the flock is close to where
> stopping the car is dangerous, and if you get out and walk, they generally
> fly. Also, there are many Bald eagles in the area, and when one flies by,
> the gulls tend to fly too. Also, trying to scan every gull in a flock that
> big when they're continually moving is an exercise in frustration. So
> actually, trying to find vagrants is pretty hard. I have noticed that the
> number of Iceland gulls flying over Port Williams and along the Cornwallis
> River (possibly to the New Minas Sewage Ponds, but access is prohibited)
> seems very high this winter.
>
> Richard
>
> On Tue, Feb 28, 2012 at 12:12 PM, <iamclar@dal.ca> wrote:
>>
>> All:
>>
>> On a trip to Kentville yesterday to deliver something, Bernice McLaren and
>> I visited a few local areas. Didn't see anything unexpected, but a
>> Rough-legged Hawk hovering close by near Potrt Williams was a pleasing
>> sight for B as well as I.
>>
>> However, I did take an overlapping series of photos across the traditional
>> large roost of gulls in fields west of the road between Port Williams and
>> Canning. Then, for a casual approximation of numbers I stitched them
>> together as a panorama and counted gulls strips constituting about 29% of
>> the total length. Thus I came up with a total of about 3040.
>>
>> This could be done by sampling with more statistical rigour, and some of
>> my counts were a bit iffy because of poor resolution. Someone else with
>> better telephoto facilities could do better, but it serves to suggest that
>> this is the largest flock than I have ever seen in the province.
>>
>> I'll bet it includes at least one of every vagrant N. Hemisphere gull
>> {:>} .
>>
>> Cheers, Ian
>> Ian McLaren
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