I spent a little bit of time in the Meadowlands today with my wife before we headed out to see a movie. It was pretty quiet, but one great bird was plucked from the blustery morning. We were standing near the end of the Transco Trail nearest to the NJ Turnpike when my wife maid mention of a quartet of birds flying in from the East. I could easily see they were gulls, but just to be prudent I put my bins up to them and looked--herring, herring, herring...glaucous!
The fourth bird was a first or second cycle Glaucous Gull. It was slightly larger than its wingmen and as it flew just twenty feet or so directly overhead I could see its cream-colored body, bicolored black & flesh bill, and complete absence of any black plumage. The bird continued east across the tidal pool and on the opposite side headed Northeast while the Herring Gulls went in the opposite direction. The bird was in no apparent hurry and languidly flew along the landfill and above the power lines until I finally lost sight of it as it approached the Northeast corner of the park. Although I almost certainly will not reach my Bergen goal of 175 in the 3 days that remain in 2011 it was great to get a Jersey and Bergen FOY.
Bergen - 167/175
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