BALTIMORE — The Inner Harbor got a rare visitor from the West Coast in recent days.
A bird called the Heermann's Gull was spotted downtown - the first-ever sighting of the bird in Maryland, reports the nonprofit Maryland Biodiversity Project.
The group said the unusual gull was seen hanging out between Pier 4 and Pier 5, and near the Four Seasons Hotel.
Heermann's Gulls are typically found along the West Coast, but occasionally show up on the East Coast. Two were seen in Virginia this past winter, reports the organization.
Birdwatchers have been intrigued by the chance to spot the rare gull. A new page on the Maryland Biodiversity Project's website shows some photos of the bird hanging out harborside.
Brad Balliett, who lives in New York but commutes to Baltimore weekly, came over to the Harbor specifically to check out the Heermann's Gull. He snapped a few photos and posted a short video of the gull flying around the harbor.
Quick look at a rare visitor that showed up in Baltimore’s Inner Harbor this week— this Heermann’s Gull that ended up on the wrong coast pic.twitter.com/m56Gk8P6wc
— Brad Balliett (@BalliettBrad) April 6, 2022
He noted: "It’s definitely a vagrant bird- thrown way off course somehow. The plumage suggests it is a first winter bird (almost one year old), so it’s possible that it got lost from inexperience, but I can’t really speculate on how a vagrant comes to be where it is, especially when it is so far from the West Coast."
