By Drew on January 8, 2007
Today was a good day for gulls at Ontelaunee. When I arrived there were several hundred circling around in the air, giving a shimmering effect when they banked and caught the sunlight just right. They almost gave the impression of snow. While they were getting their act together and collecting to a more impressive flock of 1600 or so, I scanned the flocks of geese and ducks. Only one each of Tundra Swan and Snow Goose but in all the groups of Canada Geese I did find one smaller goose which was potentially a Cackling Goose. Recently split from the Canada Goose, Cackling Geese are significantly smaller and have short stubby bill. It can be quite a recreational activity combing through big flocks of Canada Geese in hopes of seeing one of these smaller, more rare geese.
By this point the circling gull flocks were fairly impressive so I drove to a spot where I could scan through them when they were in the water. Mostly Ring-billed Gulls of course but a nice smattering of Herrings, mostly immatures, here and there. As I reached the far end of the flock I noticed some gulls that were significantly darker. Zooming in I counted 5 Great Black-backed Gulls and 8 Lesser Black-backed Gulls. The count of LBBG’s is easily the highest I have seen at Ontelaunee and is a real testament to the rapid range expansion that the species is exhibiting in the Eastern US.
Posted in Bird Sightings, gulls, Lake Ontelaunee |
By Drew on January 7, 2007
Well, I went to go find the Western Kingbird again. I figured it was so easy the first time, why not try to get it for this year’s list. It is an attractive bird anyways, so it would be nice to see again. Well, no such luck for me today. I arrived and a Herb from Lancaster County was already looking for. He had not seen it yet. I stood around for maybe 15 minutes before I took off to see what else I could find. I drove past the dump and was immediately impressed with the number of gulls taking advantage of the free food and the thermals created by the abnormally warm, 60°+ weather. Scanning the flock, I mostly saw Ring-billed and Herring Gulls, mostly adults but there was one adult Great Black-backed Gull, a FOY (first of year). Having met with a piece of luck on that birding front I decided to swing back around to the kingbird spot to see if my absence had inspired it to show itself. No luck there so I proceeded on to my fiancee’s house. The only good bird of the 40 minute car ride there was my FOY Red-shouldered Hawk, a long-tailed juvenile bird. No pictures today but hopefully this coming week I will edit some more from my trip to New Jersey and post them.
Posted in Bird Sightings, Missed Birds, Rarities |
By Drew on January 3, 2007
Today I met up with a friend to do some birding around Lake Ontelaunee and Blue Marsh Lake. It is the beginning of January so the expectation is that there should be ducks and geese in large flocks. Unfortunately this was not the case. Only 5 species of duck made an appearance and two of those species (Bufflehead, Gadwall) were represented by lone birds. Gulls were in good numbers but too far away so we took a small hike where we saw some dickey birds. The highlight was 1 Yellow-rumped Warbler which pushed my yearlist up to 39 birds. That is not so hot of a start by I feel that I have been thwarted by the rainy weather on New Years Day and today was lacking because its been so nice and balmy here rather than freezing.
I will leave you with a photo I took last week at Barnegat Light of a Common Loon. I was surprised it came out so clear because all my other pictures of birds in water have resulted in pictures where the water is perfectly in focus and the bird is a shimmery blur. Enjoy!
Posted in Bird Sightings, General Rant, Photography |
By Drew on January 2, 2007
While at Barnegat Light State Park in New Jersey late last year I was lucky enough to photograph a Herring Gull chopping down on a nice looking sea star. I normally associate sea stars with Florida or the West Coast because that is where I have seen the most and so I was surprised at first when I recognized the gull’s victim. Gulls are not picky eaters. In fact,
Birds of North America (BNA) states that Herring Gulls are a “generalist predator on pelagic and intertidal marine invertebrates, fishes, insects, other seabirds, and adults, eggs, and young of congeners. Opportunistic scavenger on fish, carrion, human refuse.” BNA also says that they swallow small prey items whole while large prey items (gastropods, bivalves, sea urchins, crabs) are broken up and eaten or dropped on rocks to break them open.
This guy really juggled the sea star around trying to fit it down his throat. He seemed frustrated that no matter which way he turned the sea star, its legs were still sticking out and he could not get it down his throat. As I left, he managed to get the sea star further down his throat but still had no luck as far as actually swallowing it.
Posted in Bird Sightings, Birds of N. America Online, gulls, Photography |
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