Birders patient enough to look through all of Central Park’s gulls have been rewarded with some rarities this winter. In January, we had a Short-billed Gull, Glaucous Gull, and a few Lesser Black-backed Gulls, Iceland Gulls and Black-headed Gulls. These gulls were in addition to our regular Ring-billed Gull, American Herring Gull and Greater Black-backed Gull species which we see daily during the winter.

Over the last few weeks, we’ve been seeing the return of some Black-headed Gulls. What’s unclear is how many different individuals we’re seeing. We’re seeing at least one in adult plumage and at least two different individuals in 1st cycle plumage, possibly three.

These are rare gulls, so on eBird to report them one is asked to include a picture and/or a description. What has been interesting to see this week is that some comments included the word “continuing”. I even used the word in a Discord post. While this made sense for the single Snow Goose and the pair of Common Mergansers that were seen on the reservoir consistently this winter, for this last week it doesn’t for the Black-headed Gulls. We’ve seen at least four different individuals this March.

Adults
The gull seen on March 16th and 20th could easily be the same gull transitioning to alternate plumage.

Adult – January 27

Adult, March 16

Adult – March 20

Sub-Adults
There are at least three different individuals being seen in March, maybe more. The gull seen on March 15 has a darker head than the ones seen later in March. Also the bird on March 18 has a tail that ends in a black band, while the others had a black subterminal band, with a thin bad of white at the tip of the tail.

What has been an interesting lesson for me is how different the head marking appears based on the posture of the bird and the light. The dark earspot can appear round when the head is raised and appear as a crescent when the bird is resting. Also, as the plumage changed, the darker feathers just coming in on the hood can be hidden or be seen depending on the angle or the light. Even the leg and the bill color changes depending on the light.

Sub-Adults – January 18

Sub-Adults – January 24

Sub-Adults – January 27

Sub-Adults – March 15

Sub-Adults – March 16

Sub-Adults – March 18

Sub-Adults – March 21

Sub-Adults – March 22

Sub-Adults – March 23

Sub-Adults – March 23

A pair of Canvasbacks were found by Linda Pistolesi on Thursday at the north end of West Harlem Piers Park. The continued to be seen on Friday, so I went up to see them. They’re a short walk from the last westbound stop of the M125, so it was an easy transfer from the subway.

I missed them at first and I then went for a walk up in to 150s along the Hudson River. When I came back the Canvasbacks were out of view but quickly came back into view. I learned that they can easily hide among the pilings that protect the west side of the natural gas pipeline building and that I should have been more patient when I first arrived.

The pair spent about 45 minutes diving, then copulated and then rested.

The Ravine in Central Park had a Leucistic White-throated Sparrow today. It was like a poor man’s Snow Bunting.

During this week’s cold snap and snow, a Pine Warbler has been consistently showing up at the feeders in the Evodia field in Central Park. It’s a nice bright bird and very cooperative, eating mostly at either of the two suet feeders.

There were three American Herring Gulls with bands on the Central Park Reservoir this afternoon. All the auxiliary makers, colored leg bands, appeared to be orange with black lettering, on the left leg, “below the knee”.

Update: Over the last few days, I’ve seen more banded gulls, both Ring-billed and American Herring species. Here are the ones I’ve seen so far. As I get responses back, I’ll update where and when they were banded. What has been interesting is that none of the bands have repeated, which means we’re getting lots of different gulls cycling through the reservoir on each day.

Date	Species	Band #	Color	Banding Location	Banding Date
1/24/25	American Herring Gull	100	Black on Orange	Near Rikers Island, NYC (40.79111 -73.88278)	6/3/15, hatched in 2014 or earlier
1/24/25	American Herring Gull	C71	Black on Orange
1/24/25	American Herring Gull	V67 ?	Black on Orange
1/25/25	Ring-billed Gull	6U5	White on Blue	Near Varennes, Québec (45.7122; -73.4408)	6/30/16
1/25/25	Ring-billed Gull	ERY	White on Blue
1/25/25	Ring-billed Gull	ZRP	White on Blue
1/26/25	American Herring Gull	02E	Black on Orange
1/27/25	American Herring Gull	356	Black on Orange
1/27/25	Ring-billed Gull	U47	White on Blue	Near Varennes, Québec (45.7122; -73.4408)	6/27/14
1/28/25	Ring-billed Gull	713	White on Blue
1/29/25	Ring-billed Gull	59L	White on Blue

Bird 1 – C71

Bird 2 – 100

Bird 3 – Numbers are unclear, possibly V67

Central Park’s Reservoir has had a Black-headed Gull for the last few days. Originally found by Leo Wexler-Mann on Friday and relocated by Julius on Saturday. It is a small gull with red legs and a red to black bill. During the winter, especially as lakes and rivers freeze upstate, the reservoir has rare visitors. We should have more as the temperatures drop this week.