Just seagulls - but close up in flight
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For birders, gulls identification is what sets the men apart from the boys 
It's tricky, as most species have 3 or more phases. The adult bird in breeding plumage on the left is a herring gull. You are in about the southermost part of their range for this time of year. The bird on the right is likely a juvenile herring gull, but I wouldn't bet the farm on it. To be great at juvenile gull ID is to know and be able to discern slight differences in darkness of wing tip, etc. Even then, they are highly variable. I'm a rookie at juvie gull ID.
It's tricky, as most species have 3 or more phases. The adult bird in breeding plumage on the left is a herring gull. You are in about the southermost part of their range for this time of year. The bird on the right is likely a juvenile herring gull, but I wouldn't bet the farm on it. To be great at juvenile gull ID is to know and be able to discern slight differences in darkness of wing tip, etc. Even then, they are highly variable. I'm a rookie at juvie gull ID.
Anywhere from0-3 year olds depending on the species.
This shows the challenges if you care to peruse http://merseybirders.webs.com/gullidentificationpage.htm
They also can migrate far and some interbreed, adding to the challenge.
This shows the challenges if you care to peruse http://merseybirders.webs.com/gullidentificationpage.htm
They also can migrate far and some interbreed, adding to the challenge.
Growing up in the East Bay Area and spending a lot of time on the San Francisco Bay & over on the coast, I was always in the presence of gulls. I never learned to identify or differentiate them...that was beyond me back in the day...but I always admired their flying. Had a few interesting instances of them taking food out of my hand (french fries I offered to the ones who were flying right alongside the Seattle Ferry on the way over to Bremerton, just waiting for a sucker like me to hold up a french fry). Then once at Sea World in San Diego, when my daughter was young, we'd gotten a couple of churros (imagine, if you can, a foot-long straight extruded donut rolled in sugar), Laurel sat down at a picnic table holding her churro, about to take her first bite, when down swoops a gull that grabs that thing and flies away with all but the end that Laurel was holding. !! The lady who was selling them saw it happen, and gave Laurel another one, bless her heart. I loved Richard Bach's fable Jonathan Livingston Seagull ,it's a quick & fun read. Rick
I am me and you are you ....and if by chance we meet, it's wonderful...
I think we had that on a poster in our room when we moved in together in 1971
I think we had that on a poster in our room when we moved in together in 1971
There was a gull that swooped down and grabed a hole chicken leg from my son when he was little. We were having a picnic at Reid state park. We have thousands of gulls at the local landfill. On the fence post are large pedator bird waiting to select their gull dinner. I usually have to hose down my truck after a run to the landfill. Also remember to wear a hat!
Nice pic's.
Nice pic's.
They are gluttons. I have tossed them whole 14" herrings and mackerel after striped bass fishing. They will gulp it down whole. They eat whole eels too. Scavengers they are.
we videod my oldest son (who is autistic) at Wildwood Crest, NJ last summer with a bag of microwave popcorn and a flock of seagulls.......LMAO.....He begged and begged to feed the gulls, so we let him. Needless to say, it got interesting for him. He has yet to ask to take a whole bag of popcorn into a flock of gulls like that again. Not sure if we even still have that vid but it was funny!
I flail mow some grassy acreage I have and the gulls come and clean up the mice that don't make it.
For birders, gulls identification is what sets the men apart from the boys
It's tricky, as most species have 3 or more phases. The adult bird in breeding plumage on the left is a herring gull. You are in about the southermost part of their range for this time of year. The bird on the right is likely a juvenile herring gull, but I wouldn't bet the farm on it. To be great at juvenile gull ID is to know and be able to discern slight differences in darkness of wing tip, etc. Even then, they are highly variable. I'm a rookie at juvie gull ID.
do you happen to know, are "landfill gulls" as variable as your common sea gulls or are they different in some way? I wonder if they would be less liekly to migrate, or do any "normal" bird things because they survive in a sythetic habitat that stays warmish in winter, and has a continuous inflow of "deliciousness". I like seagulls and pigeons....I like how colorfull pigeons are with their irridescent-ness. I always tell my wife and son, when at the beach..."If you can catch 'em, you can keep 'em". Neither has caught a seagull yet.
Yeah, at the Jersey Short they used to hang out waiting for a Hot Peanut!
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