A Stupid Gull Trip

A few years ago Bryan Pfeiffer and Ted Murin occasionally embarked on a "Stupid Gull Trip". While amusing, these superb birders had a serious intent. Gulls are endlessly fascinating. Identifying species is challenging, plumages vary considerably between juveniles and adults, and occasionally rare species show up, such as the Ivory Gull reported recently in Gloucester, Massachusetts.

So yesterday I embarked on my own stupid gull trip to Burlington's Intervale. I was not disappointed. I counted 187 gulls feasting on the smoking compost piles at the Intervale Compost Project. As required by the state of Vermont, the Intervale Compost Project has taken steps to reduce the number of gulls feeding at the site. But they still have to turn the stuff over and when they do the gulls feast.

Most of the gulls that I identified, not surprisingly, were Ring-billed Gulls. But handsome Great Black-backed Gulls were very prominent members of the flock, accounting for 27 birds. In addition, I counted 10 Herring Gulls. Of greatest interest to me were the pale gulls-2 small juvenile Iceland Gulls and 1 large Glaucous Gull. These uncommon gulls of the north (Greenland, not Iceland, in the case of Iceland gulls) seem to be reported with increasing frequency in Vermont both at the Intervale and at the Burlington waterfront, the two prime locations for spotting gulls in the winter in this area. Frankly, at times I have difficulty picking out these rare species among the large number of common gulls. In this case it is not the gulls who are stupid. It's me.