There were only five of us on the field trip, Majorie Clark, Pat Donahoo, Dot Donahoo, Mike Chapman and me. We were approaching the old sunken barge near the boat ramp. I think Mike was about to go to the other side of the road when I saw gull standing alone on the bank opposite the barge. From a
distance and without glasses it looked like a Laughing Gull. It was about that size. When I observed with glasses I noticed the orange legs and bill. I have seen Laughing Gulls with orange legs before. This bird had the overall appearance of a large Bonaparte's Gull, but it wasn't. We all observed it with a 25X spotting scope. Mike went to get a field guide and the rest of us reviewed the bird's description. After we decided that it was neither a Laughing Gull nor a Bonaparte's Gull, Mike Chapman suggested a Black-headed Gull. Indeed, it was a first winter Black-headed Gull.

The suite of characters that stood out to me were orange legs and feet, the orange bill with the black tip, the dark ear-spot, the dark band across the crown and between the eyes, the grayish nape (which really was brownish as Mike later mentioned to me). Its size, it was just too big for a Bonaparte's Gull.

One thing I noticed when I viewed the next morning with different lighting was how much brown there was on this bird. The nape and wings had a significant amount of brown.

On Saturday the bird stayed around for about ten minutes longer and then flew off towards the Brunswick docks just as I was about to take a picture.

The bird was then relocated Sunday morning by Earl Horn in the same general area. It subsequently flew towards the docks and landed on the East Brunswick River. The gull then flew to a small dock near the Emerald Princess casino boat and stayed. We all had excellent looks at the bird for the next several hours.

Andrews Island is a spoil site for harbor dredgings. There is a causeway out to the island and just before the gate to the spoil site there is a widened parking area with a beach which is used as a boat ramp and a work area for the occasional barge. The Andrews Island causeway is officially called the Homer L. Wilson Way. The causeway entrance is 4.9 miles south of I-95 on US 341/25. The causeway is built over the marsh and is 0.9 miles long. The bird was also found on the Brunswick docks between Gateway Park and the Emerald Princess (a casino boat), and the shrimp boat docks near the farmers market.

I am not sure why we were so lucky on November 11th, but it may have had something to do with the fact that it was Dot Donahoo's birthday. We had good views of most of the sparrows we were searching for and a Black-headed Gull to boot.

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