A.W.Birder: Always on the lookout for fine birds...: Kumlien's Gull in York???

Saturday 26 January 2013

Kumlien's Gull in York???

Hot on the heels of yesterdays 2nd winter Caspian Gull, and 3rd winter Iceland Gull Tim found an interesting looking 2nd winter Iceland Gull at Heslington East this afternoon. The bird showed well for a couple of hours before heading into the Lower Derwent Valley. I got a couple of pictures below on my mobile but check out Tims Blog here for a load of photos that will probably help with the ID a bit more than mine. Certainly an interesting bird...

2nd Winter Iceland/Kumlien's Gull (phone-scoped)

Earlier in the day I had a few nice walks in the snow. 4 inches all over, with some areas between 6-12 inches. Hard walking at times! The dog walk gave me good views of a Barn Owl and several Bullfinch. An early morning walk within a local patch of woodland provided a couple of Nuthatch, Treecreeper, Marsh Tit and a load of Coal Tit, Blue Tit, Great Tit and Long-tailed Tit. Quite a few Fieldfare, Redwing about too.

I spent a while at a local high-point in the hope of a Red Kite drifting through but no joy, just a few Buzzard and some Skylark trying to find somewhere to land.

An early afternoon walk at Wheldrake resulted in great views of a Water Rail on the riverbank, unfortunately it was flushed by a strange guy. Got a picture of it through the undergrowth. A Willow Tit showed well feeding on some weeds as did some Bullfinch in the trees. A few Redpoll flew over, but unfortunately they never landed in sight so I couldn't get a proper look through them.