Thayer’s Gull, East Kingston, NH, January 2014

In December 2013 I chased after a possible second year Thayer’s Gull found on the NH coast.  I was not successful in finding that bird, and it turned out that there was some doubt on its identification anyway.  After all, are we sure what a Thayer’s Gull really is?  So given these ID concerns, I wasn’t quite sure what to make of another report of a Thayer’s seen in East Kingston in January.  That is until I heard it was coming to the “feeder” of Davis Finch.  As an excellent birder, no one would doubt his identifications, so it was most likely a “good” Thayer’s.  Now a couple comments on Davis’ “feeder”.  For some years he has been putting out various meet carcasses in a field across from his house and has attracted some great birds like Black Vulture, Bald Eagles, and numerous gull species.  The Thayer’s was coming in to the meat along with a flock of 200+ gulls.

The gull might have first appeared on a Thursday based on brief observations, but wasn’t seen well enough for a positive ID until Saturday.  After the report hit the intranet, several birders saw it again Sunday morning.  I was finally able to get there mid-day Sunday and spent the rest of the afternoon there with no luck, although there were up to 200 gulls there off and on during the afternoon.  Other birds of note were Harrier, Sharpie, Cooper’s, Raven, and Bald Eagle, but no interesting gulls.  Davis came out at one point and mentioned that he puts meat out at 8 AM each day, and the gulls are usually there waiting for him.  So he suggested I return the next morning for a second try.

I arrived Monday morning at 7:30 and there was already a flock of perhaps 200 gulls circling overhead, along with 2 Bald Eagles and a couple Ravens in nearby trees.  I picked out an Iceland and a Glaucous in the group, but no Thayer’s. 

Gull flock circling over meat pile (right of center in the distance)

Then at 8 Davis came out and uncovered the boxes of meat.  As the gull flock increased in size and continued to circle overhead, I noticed what looked like a small white winged gull in the flock.  But its body wasn’t as white as an Iceland, it had a faint tail band, and a faint bar at the end of the secondaries.  It was the Thayer’s!  I watched it circle off and on for over an hour, and got great views of the underside of the bird.  At times it tipped sufficiently to see the upperside of the primaries which were darker than an Iceland, though not nearly as dark as a first year Herring.  And you could see a faint ghost pattern of dark tips and white windows on the outermost primaries.

At one point if came down to feed on the meat and it looked more like a pale Herring than a white-winged gull.  Shortly thereafter it flew from the feeder and we were able to relocate it as it rested on a nearby frozen pond.  These phonescoped photos provide excellent comparisons with first year Herrings, showing wing tips which were obviously darker than the checkered mantle, though lighter than a Herring.  Plus the small bill, rounded head, and smaller size were key differentiating fieldmarks. 

All in all I studied this bird as it circled overhead for nearly an hour, and sitting on the pond for another 15 minutes.  And it was amazing how it seemed to morph from a white-winged gull from below, to a pale Herring Gull from above.  Although NH is now my 10^th state with Thayer’s as a wintering rarity or vagrant away from the Pacific Coast, I studied this bird more than any other by far.  And Thayer’s was a key milestone on my NH statelist – number 350.