Edison Boat Launch 2/16--Iceland Gull

Iceland Gull, middle

Well, if I can't find an Iceland Gull in my home county of Ocean, at least I can find one in my boyhood home county of Middlesex. Actually, I didn't find it, it was pointed out to me by Jason on his and Patrick's field trip to a couple of unpicturesque spots on the Raritan River where it flows past the Edgeboro Landfill and through the Sayreville Marsh, making it perfect habitat for gulls--lots of gulls.

When I arrived at the Edison Boat Launch, a spot I'd only heard about, there were, as advertised, thousands of gulls on the water, on the roofs of the warehouses behind me, and flying in great circles over the active landfill. Some people, like Jason, enjoy sorting through all the standard issue gulls looking for the rarity and, having spent hundreds of hours doing it, can pick out the "white-winged gull" from the mass very quickly. When I was in printing, after looking at copy for 20 or 30 years, typos would just jump out at me. Iceland Gulls, Glaucous Gulls, Little Gulls...these are the misprints of the Laridae.

Today, the only rarity were the two Iceland Gulls we saw at the boat ramp, one a glistening white gull, the other a first cycle, light coffee colored bird. Because the Iceland Gull is just slightly larger than a Ring-bill Gull and just slightly smaller than a Herring Gull, even when one was identified, it was awfully hard to pick it out from the ever-shuffling flock. A Glaucous Gull, being huge, at least would have stood out.

After about an hour and half in Edison, the group drove to the other side of the river to Ken Buchanan Park in Sayreville. While as the gull flies it is only a mile and half away, as the car drives it is a 12 mile, 20 minute ride, not including the Wawa stop (another new one for me!). In Sayreville, the river had comparatively few gulls, but the raptor show was better featuring Northern Harriers, a nicely perched Peregrine Falcon, and nesting Bald Eagles. A Common Raven was calling but I couldn't find it and there were 5 or 6 Great Cormorants affording nice looks of the brood patches on their flanks. Great Cormorant is usually a distant bird for me, so it was a treat to find them relatively close.

For the last stop of the day about half the group drove over to South Amboy's Raritan Bay Waterfront Park where we picked up Brant, Sanderling, Horned Grebe, and Red-throated Loon for the day.

Sanderlings on the rocky coast of South Amboy

35 species on the day

Species              First Sighting

Brant   Raritan Bay Waterfront Park

Canada Goose   Edison Boat Launch

Mallard   Ken Buchanan Riverfront Park

American Black Duck   Ken Buchanan Riverfront Park

Greater Scaup   Ken Buchanan Riverfront Park

Bufflehead   Edison Boat Launch

Common Goldeneye   Ken Buchanan Riverfront Park

Common Merganser   Edison Boat Launch

Red-breasted Merganser   Ken Buchanan Riverfront Park

Horned Grebe   Raritan Bay Waterfront Park

Rock Pigeon   Ken Buchanan Riverfront Park

Sanderling   Raritan Bay Waterfront Park

Ring-billed Gull   Edison Boat Launch

Herring Gull   Edison Boat Launch

Iceland Gull   Edison Boat Launch

Great Black-backed Gull   Edison Boat Launch

Red-throated Loon   Raritan Bay Waterfront Park

Common Loon   Raritan Bay Waterfront Park

Great Cormorant   Ken Buchanan Riverfront Park

Double-crested Cormorant   Ken Buchanan Riverfront Park

Black Vulture   Sayreville

Turkey Vulture   Ken Buchanan Riverfront Park

Northern Harrier   Ken Buchanan Riverfront Park

Bald Eagle   Edison Boat Launch

Red-tailed Hawk   Edison Boat Launch

Belted Kingfisher   Edison Boat Launch

Peregrine Falcon   Ken Buchanan Riverfront Park

Blue Jay   Edison Boat Launch

Fish Crow   Edison Boat Launch

Common Raven   Ken Buchanan Riverfront Park

European Starling   Ken Buchanan Riverfront Park

White-throated Sparrow   Edison Boat Launch

Song Sparrow   Edison Boat Launch

Red-winged Blackbird   Edison Boat Launch

House Sparrow   Edison Boat Launch