Glaucous Gull - 2/18/2026

     Yesterday I took another long walk of the southern end of Island Beach State Park.  Again I was hoping that the lack of bird species would finally change, and, yet again, nothing changed until I reached the inlet at the terminus of the beach.  For nearly the entire mile-and-a-half or so walk the beach was barren, and just a spattering of the usual waterfowl- long-tailed ducks and surf, black and white-winged scoters out on the ocean.  But as I got close to the jetty I did notice something that looked different, something I have not seen in a while.

Glaucous gull, center, with American herring gulls.  © S. Weiss

Standing on the rocks was what I considered a very clean gull.  With my binoculars I saw a herring-like gull with a pale gray mantle and wings, and a clean white head and tail.  I was looking at my second white-winged gull in a week here.  Last Wednesday a first winter Iceland gull sitting on the water in the inlet immediately stood out to me.  This week’s gull was an adult.  It didn’t take much longer to identify it as a glaucous gull once I saw the smaller herring gull now standing right next to it.  My in-the-field go-to for a preliminary non-flying identification is is it smaller or larger than any nearby herring gulls?  Smaller means Iceland gull and larger means glaucous gull.

Glaucous gull flying across inlet, from Island Beach SP to Barnegat Light SP.  © S. Weiss

I took some initial photos in case it abruptly flew off.  Then I took a slow and wide path to get closer, stopping occasionally to take more photos.  I wasn’t too concerned if it flew off because there was no one else around to look at it.  I texted a few friends to share what I found before it finally did take flight over the inlet in the direction of the other state park on the other side of the water.  One of my friends just happened to be at Barnegat Light SP and asked if she would be able to see it with her scope from there.  I told her to stay put and look around because it was likely heading her way.  She soon spotted the bird on the water.  My good deed for the day done.

The rest of my checklist was more of the usual suspects, highlighted by a pair of common ravens, a trio of American tree sparrows, a flock of purple sandpipers and better than a half dozen great cormorants.  I am still waiting for some of the harlequin ducks and snow buntings to come over from BLSP across the inlet to IBSP.

Left, purple sandpiper.  Right, greater scaup hen.  © S. Weiss

The other two friends I texted yesterday took their individual walks today to look for the gull.  One got the glaucous and the other missed the glaucous but photographed a nice adult Iceland gull instead.  A double dip on both gulls would have been nice for any of us.



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