The only bird of any sort at Island 1 of the CBBT at 8AM yesterday (June 4) was
an unusual looking gull that we felt was a Thayer's with some attributes of a
first cycle bird and many of a second. There was unusual feather wear on many
of the coverts. The bird was the size of a very small herring Gull, with a
"long" forehead, small, non-bulbous all-black bill, and notably pink legs. The
primaries were moderately dark, and the portion that normally bears the light
tips in a Thayer's was worn-off. Most tellingly, the iris was a dull
olive/tan, i.e. dark like a Thayer's. Many photographs were taken. Please
examine this one (by Trevor Sleight), and if you have some experience with odd
gulls like this and let me know what you think.
https://www.flickr.com/photos/115733023@N04/14154905108/
Thanks, Dan Cristol on behalf of the Williamsburg Bird Club
PS - we continued to Chincoteague where we found about 10,000 migrating
sandpipers: 9000+ semipalmated sandpipers, 5 white-rumped sandpipers, 6
red-knots, 6 short-billed dowitchers, 2 ruddy turnstones, 9 greater yellowlegs,
15 dunlin, 6 sanderlings and one small, leucistic (i.e., pale, pale tan) peep
that was consistent with a runty semipalmated sandpiper, all flying madly
around Tom's Cove. Also of note, one immature white ibis on the auto loop.
