American Herring Gull - Blast From The Past Finds
American Herring Gull is another true birder's bird.
I wasn't always into large gulls. I hadn't, for example, run and twitched any species of large gull in my days in Ireland, and indeed, the only reason I had seen American Herring Gull at all was seeing the long staying bird at Nimmo's pier whilst going for other, better species.
However, as I focused more on more on my own self found list I decided to make more of an effort to pull self found birds out of the pool that is large gulls.
I've found a few over the years at this point, so here's a couple of my favorites.
Things came to a head when, birding in the dump in Youghal in 2010, I was confronted with a bird that could only be an American Herring Gull.
A 1st Winter bird, with classic tail, rump, undertail covs and underparts, nonetheless, at the time I did not call it. (I count it now).
I went away, put the reading and research time in, but in subsequent visits, did not relocate it.
I carried on, working gulls at Youghal, Ballycotton and Cobh over the next couple of weeks. But it was on a visit to Baltimore the following winter that the ground work paid off.
27.11.2011 Baltimore, Cork
In winter, I would generally favor east Cork over west. Apart from being closer, thereby making better use of brief daylight hours, I also had come to believe it simply less productive for whatever reason. (A range of November and December rarities had proved this to my own satisfaction).
However, this day I had decided to start off in Baltimore for Gulls and work my way back to Kinsale.
Starting out in the harbour at Baltimore, chucking out a loaf of bread was massively unproductive. A quick sconce of a couple of gardens (end of November just in case) was also unproductive, and so I opted for a bit of breakfast at Jolie Briese.
I then made my way to the fish factory up the road...this was to be my first ever visit to this site. 🙂
Back then, you could ask the staff to go in, and they usually said yes. So I made my way to the back of the factory, where gulls would gather on the rocks to wait for any fish discards.
I again chucked out some bread, and in seconds a perfect American arse whizzed past me. A mocha velvet underparts bird, with a solid dark tail and barred rump and undertail coverts, combined with a glaucous-esque bill. American Herring Gull. Bingo!!
American Herring Gull, Baltimore, Cork
This time, I was ready. No dithering or doubting. I put the news straight out and enjoyed the bird for over an hour.
A bonus sinensis Cormorant was also roosting on the rocks here, which was nice.
Sinensis Cormorant
This far west, at this time of year, you don't actually expect anyone to show up, but the bird was indeed twitched that afternoon.
This bird stayed around several weeks and was twitched by a handful of birders (American Herring Gull doesn't get the blood flowing for most, especially if they've seen them before).
I even got to enjoy it myself again in December, but by January it was gone (probably due to the factory shutting down over Christmas).
Have to say, it felt good to put in the legwork, put in the effort and have it pay off. What being a bird finder is all about.
Over that winter, into 2012, I had a couple more birds,in Youghal and Castetownbere, but it was Baltimore again which produced one of the most memorable individuals for me.
02.02.2013 Baltimore, Cork
It was a trip down west birding with Hanna that again produced in Baltimore.
Having had a Ring-Billed Gull at Ballydehob, we made our way to Baltimore to check the the fish factory.
Again standing down the back of the factory, we were in situ just a few seconds when again I saw a stonking well marked rump and black tail go by. This time I didn't even need optics on it. I just called it in the air.
It landed in on the grass and gave sublime views. This was a more advanced (obviously being February), and smokier bird than the previous one in Baltimore.
American Herring Gull - Baltimore, Cork
American Herring Gull - Robert Vaughan
I'm not entirely sure how long this bird was around. Certainly a few days, over which it was again twitched by just a handful of people. Other than the shots produced by myself and friends, I haven't ever seen any others. If anyone knows of any out there I would be grateful to hear of them.
After that, however, I suspect it simply wasn't looked for. Such is the nature of remote grotty large gulling I guess.
20.12.2014
I had found a couple more American Herring Gull between 2013 and this date, but it was this bird, found at Killybegs with Hanna and Rob that again sticks out in my mind.
On a visit home at Christmas, myself and Hanna met up with Rob in Donegal, on a two day trip to Sligo and Killybegs.
Staying in Killybegs, (a first time visit for me), we began working the gulls on that cold December morning.
With a couple of Glaucs and Iceland's knocking around, I managed to pick out a dark beauty of a first winter later in the day, and got the other two onto it rapidly.
Again, it stood out like a sore thumb, but it took a long time watching through the scope to get the features on the tail and rump.
Nonetheless, we got the required details on it, and Rob immortalized it in his typical fashion.
American Herring Gull - Robert Vaughan
A species I always enjoy, and with frequent Christmas visits home, hopefully one I get to find again.
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