As noted in a quick post this a.m., the 1st-cycle Thayer's Gull found earlier this week by gullmeister Nick Bonomo (a couple Thayer's, a Slaty-backed and a Mew (Common) Gull in CT aren't too shabby) was present this morning at the Windsor-Bloomfield landfill. About 2000 gulls were present even though no garbage came in while we were there. I'd like to think this bodes well for the Thayer's still being there tomorrow. It seems to be using this site as its main day-time hangout.

Finding this bird among many first-cycle Herring Gulls requires patience, and until it's found most of an observer's efforts will center on convincing him of herself that a promising-look Herring Gull is in fact just that. In carefully perusing the birds on the ground, I would concentrate on head shape (smaller and rounder than virtually every Herring Gull there with an essentially all-black bill that is smaller than the bills of the majority of the Herrings). It was the bird's head that initially caught my attention while it was tucked in among a bunch of Herrings with little else showing. The photos Nick posted provide an excellent reference on everything to look for perched and in flight, but it still can be a bit overwhelming while looking through all the Herrings. I'd just suggest the head as a good place to start. The bird also has a smudgy dark area at and behind the eye, but beware Herring Gull's showing the same. You want to get the smudge in combination with other characters on a properly shaped head.

Greg Hanisek
Waterbury

Several birders spent from 12:30 till 3:30 at the landfill on Friday (12/9) with no luck picking out the the Thayer's  The number of gulls was around 1,000 or maybe 1,500, but not the 2,000 estimated by Greg Hanisek in the morning.  As Greg mentioned, there are certainly lots of 1st cycle Herrings to look at, some with smaller darker bills and many with a checkerboard mantle. A number appeared to have all black bills, some that were smaller than others, but if you looked at the bills closely, there was some pinkish coloring near the base of both mandibles.  And none had the paler primaries required to make it a Thayer's.

One other note - the gulls were situated in 4 different areas at the landfill (construction debris area, trash area, and 2 roosting/sleeping flocks), so you couldn't see all the flock at once.  Plus, there are hills and small depressions birds can hide behind or in, so you can't safely say that you are looking at each bird that may be present at any one time.  I kept thinking that the Thayer's might have been there but was hidden somewhere, but I gave up at 3:30 when the birds started flying off to roost (the trash deliveries stopped so no need for the birds to stay).

No other unusual gulls were present which seemed a bit odd for a flock of this size, though maybe it's a bit too early in the year for the Lesser/Iceland/Glaucous group.

Mike Resch
Pepperell, MA
www.statebirding.blogspot.com

We had an Iceland Gull there on Monday, 12/5 while looking for the Thayer's.  You are right, however, one would think there would be Lesser Black-backed and a few white-winged gulls with a flock of that size.  This landfill is the last one for gulls in the area.  At one time, there were huge gull flocks traveling from Hartford to East Hartford to Manchester to feast at the dumps. I can recall numbers exceeding 10,0000 gulls.  Our Christmas Bird Count totals for gulls have taken a severe drop since the closing of the three landfills. Unfortunately, the Bloomfield-Windsor Landfill is outside our Count circle.

Jay Kaplan
Canton

-----Original Message-----
From: mresch8702 mresch8702@aol.com
To: ctbirds ctbirds@lists.ctbirding.org
Sent: Sat, Dec 10, 2011 6:24 am
Subject: [CT Birds] No Thayer's, 12/9 PM

Several birders spent from 12:30 till 3:30 at the landfill on Friday (12/9) with
no luck picking out the the Thayer's  The number of gulls was around 1,000 or
maybe 1,500, but not the 2,000 estimated by Greg Hanisek in the morning.  As
Greg mentioned, there are certainly lots of 1st cycle Herrings to look at, some
with smaller darker bills and many with a checkerboard mantle. A number appeared
to have all black bills, some that were smaller than others, but if you looked
at the bills closely, there was some pinkish coloring near the base of both
mandibles.  And none had the paler primaries required to make it a Thayer's.

One other note - the gulls were situated in 4 different areas at the landfill
(construction debris area, trash area, and 2 roosting/sleeping flocks), so you
couldn't see all the flock at once.  Plus, there are hills and small depressions
birds can hide behind or in, so you can't safely say that you are looking at
each bird that may be present at any one time.  I kept thinking that the
Thayer's might have been there but was hidden somewhere, but I gave up at 3:30
when the birds started flying off to roost (the trash deliveries stopped so no
need for the birds to stay).

No other unusual gulls were present which seemed a bit odd for a flock of this
size, though maybe it's a bit too early in the year for the Lesser/Iceland/Glaucous
group.

Mike Resch
Pepperell, MA
www.statebirding.blogspot.com

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