MA - Seven Kumlien's Gulls and a Barred Owl

Saturday evening provided me with half an hour to check on the gull situation at Turner's Falls. Conditions were perfect. It was windless with complete cloud cover, and rather warmer and more spring-like than most recent evenings. On arrival at Unity Park I was greeted by a cacophony of sound with a nice mass of vocalizing gulls spread over the ice. Most of them were Ring-billed Gulls resplendent in breeding condition, indeed so many were present it looked like an incursion of north bound migrants had taken place. On the other hand, relatively few large gulls were present but Kumlien's Iceland Gull were still around in decent numbers (seven in total). Of these, six birds were close together forming a loose flock with the only adult Kumlien's choosing to rest in among the Ring-billed Gulls. After a bit more sorting, the only other unusual gull I could find was a Lesser Black-backed Gull, this one a first-cycle, and actually an age-class that I don't find too frequently at Turner's Falls.

 Kumlien's Iceland Gulls - six together (group of four left, first-cycle right, third-cycle extreme right), Unity Park, Turner's Falls, Franklin Co., MA. March 21st, 2015. 

 Kumlien's Iceland Gulls - five together (group of three left, second-cycle right, first-cycle extreme right), Unity Park, Turner's Falls, Franklin Co., MA. March 21st, 2015. 

 Kumlien's Iceland Gulls - four together (third-cycle extreme right), Unity Park, Turner's Falls, Franklin Co., MA. March 21st, 2015. 

 Kumlien's Iceland Gulls - four together (first-cycles right, second-cycle extreme right), Unity Park, Turner's Falls, Franklin Co., MA. March 21st, 2015. 

 Kumlien's Iceland Gull - adult (center), Unity Park, Turner's Falls, Franklin Co., MA. March 21st, 2015. 

 Lesser Black-backed Gull  - first-cycle center of both images, Unity Park, Turner's Falls, Franklin Co., MA. March 21st, 2015. 

On the way home through Gill, a pale, perched owl close to Main Road gave a few heart pounding moments until it ultimately proved to be Barred Owl foraging out in the open. It was just a 100 meters down the road from the site of the 1973 Great Gray Owl in Gill, a bird that's always at the back of my mind whenever I drive passed that spot!