Red-breasted Merganser - male, Unity Park, Barton Cove, Turner's Falls, Franklin Co., MA. January 30th, 2010.Nice male Red-breasted Merganser off Unity Park, Barton Cove this afternoon - present through to dusk and then flew upriver and out of sight. Gull numbers were small this evening, the smallest for a while with perhaps less than 300 hundred birds but still containing the two regular adult Lesser Black-backed Gulls and a first-cycle Kumlien's Gull.
Kumlien's Gull - first-cycle. Long staying first year, present for at least one month. Unity Park, Barton Cove, Turner's Falls, Franklin Co., MA. January 30th, 2010.
Lesser Black-backed Gull - adult. Long stayer, present for at least two months. This bird has rather weak-toned, yellow-orange legs. Unity Park, Barton Cove, Turner's Falls, Franklin Co., MA. January 30th, 2010.
Lesser Black-backed Gull - adult. Long stayer, present for at least six weeks. This bird has bright egg-yolk yellow legs, quite different to the bird above. The leg color is also becoming more intense as we edge towards spring. Unity Park, Barton Cove, Turner's Falls, Franklin Co., MA. January 30th, 2010.
2 comments:
We were at Barton Cove Sunday, 1/31 hoping to catch something out of the ordinary as this time of the year and going into spring can prove to be interesting along the Connecticut River. It was relatively quiet, there were maybe 30-40 herring gulls and a group of mute swans but no sign of the lesser black backed gull. Has it taken up tremporary residency there? Although, we headed up to Northfield and were rewarded with a Merlin and 6 bluebirds on Pine Meadow Road, off Rt63.
Greg and Kate Watkevich
Hi Greg,
The Lesser Black-backed Gulls come into roost every evening at Barton Cove, along with about 500 other gulls. It sounds like you may have been too early in the day. I usually start checking from about an hour before sunset. The LBBGs were again present this evening (02/04), along with 2 Kumlien's Gulls and 1 adult Glaucous Gull.
Best,
James
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