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
It’s pretty much snowed constantly for the past 3 days I’ve been in Cleveland. Another big storm moved in last night and we’re forecasted to receive over a 1′ of snow by Sunday morning. I managed to get out to E 72nd St. in Cleveland yesterday afternoon before this big storm came in. I’m glad I did since I easily located a Glaucous Gull and Iceland Gull within a few minutes. Unfortunately I had to shoot at a high ISO due to the fleeting afternoon sun and terrible weather conditions.
Current Radar Map
Some shots of the Gulls:
Iceland Gull
And here’s what I have to look forward to the next 5 days I’m here…. Sunday will be the only day I can actually get out and photograph. Too bad it will be overcast but it’s better than it snowing all day.
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)
Since I was visiting the in-laws out in Beaumont over the holidays, I decided to take a quick peek at the San Jacinto Wildlife Area to see what raptors the cold winter air had brought in. It was pretty dismal with just a few Kestrel’s here and there but after about 30 min I saw a raptor way off in the distance perched on a post in the middle of a field. I first noticed the nice black tail-band so the first thing that popped in my head was Rough-legged Hawk. I snapped a few pictures slowly working my way closer to it. I was so concentrated on trying to get the best pictures possible I didn’t really stop and take the time to actually ID the bird… After looking at the photos later I now realize it was simply a juvenile Ferruginous Hawk (and quite obvious too).
On the way out from SJWA I had a flock of about 50 Mountain Bluebirds, a very cooperative Cassin’s Kingbird and lots of Savannah Sparrows perched along the fenceline.
Cassin’s Kingbird
Savannah Sparrow