First Iceland and Lesser Black-backed Gulls - Oct 26th

Lesser Black-backed Gull - adult graellsii with Ring-billed Gulls.

A glorious day by any standards. Warm, almost balmy with temperatures in the mid sixties and a gentle South-westerly breeze, quite a contrast to the torrential rain and South-east gales that hit us overnight. Came across the first interesting large gulls of the autumn with an early first-cycle Kumlien's Iceland Gull over the Umass Amherst playing fields in late morning (around 10:50am) and an adult Lesser Black-backed Gull with up to 500 Ring-billed Gulls on Umass playing fields in late afternoon. The latter was also noted independently by Brian Kane in the afternoon. About 400 Canada Geese were on the Umass campus pond, but alas no Greater White-fronted nor any Cackling Geese present.