Comments on: Watching Gulls at Niagara Falls

By: The Tax Foundation – Census Survey: Northeast and Parts of Midwest … | Cattaraugus County NY Real Estate

Thu, 31 Dec 2009 02:55:59 +0000

[...] Watching Gulls at Niagara Falls | Birds, Words, & Websites [...]

By: Laura

Laura — Wed, 23 Dec 2009 16:32:26 +0000

Hi guys,
A cool update: I uploaded a voice recording of Peter giving a little tutorial on the Thayer’s >>> Kumlien’s >>> Iceland Gull cline. Check it out!

Laura

By: Andrew Baksh

Andrew Baksh — Wed, 23 Dec 2009 14:19:02 +0000

Excellent post! Some company you were in and very lucky to get that tutorial first hand from Peter. I hope to get better at gulls…someday.

By: noflickster

noflickster — Wed, 23 Dec 2009 04:36:55 +0000

As usual, awesome write up of a fantastic birding trip – I’m glad I was able to experience it with you instead of just reading the recount! Obviously, a few more trips are in order to work out those gull ids. I suggest the eastern shore of VA to work on Laughing vs. Ring-billeds, but in the meantime let’s focus on Icelands and Thayer’s. Let me know when you’re free.

Oh, and let’s work on a better story for any future border crossings.
-Mike

By: Mike

Mike — Wed, 23 Dec 2009 00:44:47 +0000

Nice, Laura. You’re keeping good company! The fact that you guys missed the rare gulls is unfortunate but soothes my envy at not being there.

By: Laura

Laura — Tue, 22 Dec 2009 23:00:13 +0000

I’ll leave the aging and the sexing to others. I just hope to learn enough to round out my trip lists without too much trouble.

@stuart: yes, a redshank would cause a HUGE twitch from which we may never recover. In fact, my European friend was visiting this summer and thought she spotted a redshank at a nearby refuge. Her twitch gave way to seizures as she thought she ruled out all the rest. But in the end, it was a off-color yellowlegs. Ha ha.

By: Stuart

Stuart — Tue, 22 Dec 2009 22:16:09 +0000

Gulls are great. I have just been to Linlithgow Loch in Scotland to see a Smew and there were hundreds of Black-headed Gulls! I would have been ecstatic if I had seen Bonaparte’s. The contrast is quite funny, I think.
Locally, in Lothian county, we have a Baird’s Sand and Lesser Yellowlegs – I bet the Redshank would cause a twitch with you?

All the best, and good birding!

By: Christopher

Christopher — Tue, 22 Dec 2009 20:06:38 +0000

I’ve a few friends that are “gull-people” and I swore up and down that I’d never be one. Although still not great at ID’ing them, I’m definitely more interested in them, and maybe someday I’ll be standing beside Patrick, debating the age and sex of the gulls we see…

By: Patrick

Patrick — Tue, 22 Dec 2009 18:18:57 +0000

Great post. It must have been a great experience getting that gull education first-hand. Gulls are a real tough nut to crack for me (and many birders I’m sure). One of these days I’ll be aging (sp?) and sexing every gull I see.

By: Tweets that mention Watching Gulls at Niagara Falls | Birds, Words, & Websites -- Topsy.com

Tue, 22 Dec 2009 18:05:34 +0000

[...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by Laura Kammermeier, Ray Beckerman. Ray Beckerman said: Watching Gulls at Niagara Falls http://idek.net/pfU by our @lkamms [...]