UnbelievaGull 01Jan2015

Happy New Year birders and non-birders!

I started the year out on the right track, birding.  I tried Johnny Mercer's Pier first but the birds had moved on before I got there.  The South end of WB was not much better, although it was a beautiful morning.

Great Black Back Gull - the largest gull in North America and maybe globally?

However I did run into Sam C and he reminded me that there was a large fish kill on the North end of
WB so off I went.

What a spectacle!  Thousands and thousands of gulls.

No that's not white sand, its thousands of gulls.

Every once in a while a dog would kick of the flock and I would have to search anew.

The current in the inlet was working like conveyor belt bringing the birds by me.  I was regretting not bringing a lawn chair and a 6 pack.  This show was better than any stinking football game.

It didn't take long before I found what I was looking for.... a white winged gull!!!  At first glance it looked big enough that I thought I had a Glaucous but closer inspection revealed the bird next to it was a Herring and it was a little daintier than it's neighbor.  The bill was solid black which pointed towards Iceland.  I texted Sam to let him know and promptly lost the bird in the conveyor belt.

This was what the party was all about.  Millions of dead menhaden washed up from some massive fish kill.  Bring a nose plug because it was smelly.

After my initial success I figured it was only a matter of time before I found another one.  So I made my way over to one of the beaches where birds were simply sitting and passing the time.  They all had crops full of fish and were content to let me comb through them.

Ring-billed Gulls were the most plentiful.  I put 10k in eBird but probably there was more. This particular bird had a couple bands - U2K said the big one.

Herring Gull in a sea of Ring-billed. Great Black-backed Gulls were plentiful too.

Great Black-backed Gull - see pink legs and relatively clean white head.

Lesser Black-backed Gull - Yellow Legs and streaking on head.

I estimated over 50 Lesser Black-backed.  Not bad for this area!  Some folks go all the way to the OBX to see these.

Laughing Gulls were present in good numbers too.  I tried looking for a Franklin's or other rare gull but I am not great at gull ID.

One bird with a fitting name - Ring-billed Gull.

After 3 hours of combing through gulls I ended up not finding another rarity.  Maybe tomorrow?

By the way, if you decide to check these gulls out and walk through the dead fish, don't go see a movie with your family without changing your shoes.  Everyone in the theater was looking around wondering who brought the anchovies.

Great times.