Great Start for 2009: Ivory Gull In Plymouth

It has been a spectacular winter so far for certain winter species such as Snowy Owl and White Winged Crossbills. But the star of the season has to be the two Ivory Gulls that have shown up in Mass this month--in Gloucester and Plymouth.
I ventured to Plymouth and found an impossibly white bird sitting at the end of a pier, with several photographers oogling nearby.



Before long, the bird, and hundreds of other gulls, flew to the parking lot where someone put out an uncooked turkey carcass. The ivory gull, despite being half the size of the others, bravely and ravenously, speared meat morsels. The number of photographers grew but the gulls were oblivious. The hardest part was photographing the pure white on the white snow. The camera's autofocus kept finding the other gulls and the turkey but missing the ivory gull. But I managed some great shots. The feather whiteness, the black legs and eyes, the blue hued bill, and the thief-like sneakiness of the gull stand out in my mind. Clearly a northern survivor; it is easy to imagine it picking apart a leftover seal carcass in the arctic.

Rusty Blackbird in Edgewood Park, New Haven

Yesterday, we went looking for the Red Headed Woodpecker that we had seen during the winter...(see post). Reports had it beginning to molt from the juvenile brown/gray to its striking red head. But no luck...and it was cold.

We did however, find a massive flock of blackbirds moving throughout the wooded area of the park. There were also reports of Rusy Blackbirds in the area, so we looked. Female Grackles kept confusing us, but we met a photographer who gave us hints....look on the ground in the undergrowth. Within minutes, we had several.

Very strange photo of these birds. They were in various stages of rust from a brown to an almost perfect black.

Breeding Shape: Lesser Black-Backed Gull

We went to Southport to try to find reported Little Gulls and Black Headed Gulls. Instead we found a bunch of Bonaparte Gulls in varying degrees of transition plumage. Sometimes I wonder about these reports.

But someone at the beach told us about a Lesser Black-Backed Gull just down the road. We found it in a mixed gull flock. Our first ever.

The back was certainly less dark than the Greater Black-Backed Gull, and the size distinction was a bit less than I had anticipated. But there was no doubt with the legs, a bright yellow. The gull stayed put, and then flew around a bit. Worth the trip afterall.

White Breasted Nuthatch Finding A Spring Snack

One of our favorite yard birds is the White Breasted Nuthatch. We can usually hear this bird before we see it, as its unk, unk, unk sounds accompany its movement up and down the three trunks. We are lucky to often see some visit our bird feeders right through the winter. But it is in the trees where this yard bird is best viewed. It seems equally comfortable moving up or down the trunks of trees, search the crevices of the bark for seeds and insects. I found this one working one of our large maples in our side yard, discovering a little seed that must have been stored over the winter.

Another Tough Photo: Golden Crowned Kinglet

The Golden Crowned Kinglet is fairly common in the fall and the spring, and can be found pretty regularly in the winter around Connecticut. But since they are always darting from branch to branch, they are often difficult for me to photgraph.

Yesterday, at Cedar Lake in Chester, I spotted a couple of these kinglets working branches of Rhodedendrons, with faint chips as they worked.

I took a million photos with the hole of getting at least one. This isn't THE one, but it shows the bold yellow head stripe and the hint of yellow on the wings. I know, i know...it is the back. I'll keep trying.

Spring Birds: Ospreys Are Back!

Living on a cove off the Connecticut River, we are neighbors to several Ospreys who use the nesting platforms on Thatchbed Island off South Cove in Essex. They are so common, cruising the skies looking for fish in the shallows of the cove, that when they leave, there is something indeed missing from the landscape.

Well this week, our friends have returned, and have begun fishing right away. This one is hovering over Cedar Lake in Chester, Connecticut. It didn't make the dive, but I have already seen two of these raptors with wiggling fish in their talons. Welcome back, friend.

Costa Rica Birds: Roseate Spoonbill

I guess this doesn't really count as a Costa Rica bird, but at the hotel grounds a tidal pond attracted a great many waders including herons, egrets and this Roseate Spoonbill.

We first saw Spoonbills in the Everglades a few years back in one of our earliest nature trips. At that time, we were more interested in the Alligators and Crocs versus the birds. But the Spoonbill really stood out.

In Costa Rica, this Spoonbill spent most of the day searching through the muck and seaweed/algae for little tidbits to eat.