Gulls at the Ottawa Valley Waste Recovery Centre

Hi there,

Today (November 23) from 1020 h to 1300 h, I gull-watched at the Ottawa Valley Waste Recovery Centre in Renfrew County. 6 species of gull including: Iceland (4 kumlieni ), Glaucous (1), Lesser Black-backed (1). I also observed and photographed a first cycle “Nelson’s” Gull. One of the Iceland Gulls (2nd cycle) was extremely petite (seemingly marginally larger than adjacent Ring-billed and smaller and much daintier than adjacent Herring). It was ghostly-white and had extensive white to the primaries. I would be interested in receiving feedback on whether or not this gull is safely separable from nominate glaucoides. Surely it’s a female given its size and delicate appearance. In any case, a lovely bird. Full eBird checklist: http://ebird.org/ebird/canada/view/checklist?subID=S25973018

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Putative first cycle “Nelson’s” (Glaucous x Herring) Gull

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Putative first cycle “Nelson’s” (Glaucous x Herring) Gull

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First cycle kumlieni

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Second cycle kumlieni

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Second cycle kumlieni (same bird as above)

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Juvenile Glaucous

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Juvenile Glaucous

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Lesser Black-backed (juv-first cycle) at centre (poor quality = long distance pic).

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First cycle Herring Gull

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First cycle Herring Gull

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An Interesting Iceland Gull….

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Gulls = a fun and challenging identification frontier! 🙂