Glaucous Gull, Budd Lake, NJ, Mar. 2, 2013 (photo by Jeff Ellerbusch).

(Click on photo for a larger image).

It was a day for gulls in Morris County. Not the magnitude of numbers seen earlier in the week when 4,000 Herring Gulls dominated Budd Lake, but the quality of gulls that appeared in the county today. First, an Iceland Gull was found on Mt. Hope Pond yesterday, March 1, and then seen again today and photographed this morning. This afternoon, Jeff Ellerbusch found a Glaucous Gull near the south beach of Budd Lake. White-winged gulls are rarely recorded in any year in Morris County. To have two species in one day in the county is outstanding and the stuff of birding legends and lore.

The number of geese and gulls has decreased in the past few days at Budd Lake but the number of Herring Gulls is still approximately 1,000+, with 500 Ring-billed Gulls added in as well. At least 15 Great Black-backed Gulls were in the lake. An impressive (for Morris County) 5 Lesser Black-backed Gulls, 3 adults and 2 young birds, are probably a record for the county unless someone knows of more.

Glaucous Gull, Budd Lake, NJ, Mar. 2, 2013 (digiscoped by Jonathan Klizas).

Glaucous Gull, Budd Lake, NJ, Mar. 2, 2013 (photo by Jeff Ellerbusch).

A young Lesser Black-backed Gull, Budd Lake, NJ, Mar. 2, 2013 (digiscoped by Jonathan Klizas)