Willband - February 19, 2024

[Randy]

I stopped by Willband today mid-afternoon. Not surprisingly it was very quiet from a songbird perspective but there were a couple highlights.

There was what appeared to be a Glaucous Gull in the southwest pond amongst the largest flock of gulls I've seen there. Jon questioned whether it could be a bleached Glaucous-winged Gull and I have no idea, so I'm open to comments.


Glaucous Gull at Abbotsford--Willband Creek Park by Randy Walker


Other highlights included a Ruddy Duck and Canvasback. I did not come across the Redhead that has been there.

[Gord]

Good for a Glaucous Gull. Solid comment on bleached birds though a worthy consideration. This is definitely the case in later Summer when the birds are in really old feathers. It's not hard to find a bird that sort of looks like that one during that time. Looks a tad small so likely a female or one of the smaller subspecies that tends to be small. I've seen one of those and they makes one think Iceland Gull from back east with the whiter plumage and wings.