I recorded a total of 9 species of Gull today at E 72nd St. in Cleveland.
Species: Herring, Ring-billed, Bonaparte’s, Thayer’s, Iceland, Glaucous, Great Black-backed, Lesser Black-backed Gull and a single Black-legged Kittiwake.
Weather conditions: 23F, Snow, heavy at times, Wind SSW 15mph.
Photos:
Glaucous Gull
Iceland Gull
Great Black-backed Gull
Bonaparte’s Gull
Thayer’s Gull
Already off to a good start in ‘09 with 3 new photo birds: Red-necked Grebe, Williamson’s Sapsucker and Great Horned Owl. I ticked the first two up in Ventura on Saturday and the Great Horned Owl right here in the Ballona Wetlands. He was located within a grove of Eucalyptus trees next to the Gas Co. parcel adjacent to the Ballona Freshwater Marsh. Apparently there has been a couple resident there for a while and even nested one year and fledged at least one chick.
Some other good fortune – I checked Ballona Creek a couple times for the Black Scoters that Martin Meyers found but it wasn’t until saturday afternoon that I was able to photograph them and in decent lighting conditions. There was also a nice adult Thayer’s Gull nearby. Photos follow.
Red-necked Grebe
Williamson’s Sapsucker
Great Horned Owl
Black Scoter
Black Scoter
Thayer’s Gull
I haven’t been keeping up on my blog updates. Partly due to the holidays and partly due to a weird sinus/head cold I’ve been fighting for the past few days. Anyway…I ended up rushing over to Echo Lake Park in Downtown after a friend called to tell me they were looking at a 1st year THAYER’S GULL just a few feet from them and with the sun at their back!! I have been trying to track down a Thayer’s Gull to photograph for quite a while… Not having any luck at Ballona (where they are irregularly found), I quickly forgot about my sinus headache and jumped in the car to go photograph. There were also LOTS of Glaucous-winged Gulls all around.
Thayer’s Gull (1st year)
Glaucous-winged Gull (1st year)
