THE CULINARY CONCEPTS OF GULLS

This incident of gull vs. tourists took place at Limantour Beach, Pt. Reyes, a few days ago.

Today I was leading a group of birders and we stopped for dinner at an outdoor seafood cafe in Ventura. Some other diners left their table and a first-year Western Gull quickly swooped down to empty the small container of tartar sauce left on the table. That very same gull also proved adept at catching French fries with his beak.

Why Ventura? Tomorrow we take the Island Packers boat out to Santa Cruz Island for the endemic Island Scrub-Jay, an example of evolutionary giantism, like the Komodo monitor lizards, but not as dangerous.

If you;re interested in seeing some California specialties, PIB will work with you on a custom trip or you can join one of our standard ones. Just on this first day we’ve gotten California Gnatcatcher, Common Murre, Rufous-crowned Sparrow, Royal and Elegant Tern, Black Oystercatcher and Turnstone, Marbled Godwit, Red-necked Phalarope, Heermann’s Gull, Black-bellied Plover and California Towhee.

Pictures From Puget Sound

Here are some fine pictures by Tom Bush, one of the PIB expedition members on the Northwest birding trip.  We expect to do another trip in 2011.  The next group to go will gather in Portland next week.

There could not be a more emblematic bird for our trip than the Harlequin.  This delicately marked duck goes from breeding on crashing streams to wintering on cold, open water.  Here’s a pair of males cruising off Whidbey Island.

Here’s a pair on the rugged shore at Hama Hama on the Hood Canal.

Here’s that same pair, now alerted to our staring gaze.

Top to bottom:

Barrow’s Goldeneye male on Hood Canal at Potlatch State Park.

Common Goldeneye male practices for the spring displaying competition.

Truly a golden eye.

Black Oystercatcher feeding on the beach at Sequim yacht harbor.

Young Bald Eagle at Nisqually NWR.  We probably saw four dozen different Bald Eagles on this trip.  Sightings included a copulating pair at Railroad Bridge Park in Sequim.  Tow different eagles with ducks at Whidbey Island.  Most amazing was a young eagle catching, then losing, a Cackling Goose on a lake on Sauvie Island.  That action attracted three other Bald Eagles and not even the mature individual could re-capture the goose which actually dove to escape capture.

Trumpeters at Sequim.

Song Sparrow, Nisqually.

Sequim and Whidbey Island

Top to bottom:  Bewick Wren sings at Railroad Bridge Park in Sequim.

A “beach wren.”  This is Winter Wren feeding among the huge driftwood logs along rocky shore on Whidbey Island.  At Fort Ebey State Park.

This looks like a very busy male Bufflehead with his harem on Admiralty Inlet off Whidbey Island.

Black Oystercatcher along the shoreline at Fort Ebey State Park.

Two Dunlins on the mudflats along Penn Cove on Whidbey Island’s east side.

Greater Yellowlegs on the same mudflats.

Yellowlegs high stepping.

Loon offshore of Whidbey Island. There were also numerous Harlequin Ducks and a pair of Long-tailed Ducks far from the beach.

Location:     Whidbey Island
This includes birds seen from ferryboat between Port Townsend and Whidbey Island.

Observation date:     1/26/10
Number of species:     46

Brant (Black)     6
Gadwall     4
American Wigeon     120
Mallard     15
Northern Pintail     150
Lesser Scaup     6
Harlequin Duck     25
Surf Scoter     10
Long-tailed Duck     3
Bufflehead     80
Common Goldeneye     45
Hooded Merganser     4
Red-breasted Merganser     50
Red-throated Loon     1
Horned Grebe     16
Red-necked Grebe     10
Eared Grebe     2
Western Grebe     3
Double-crested Cormorant     20
Pelagic Cormorant     40
Great Blue Heron     8
Bald Eagle     5
Northern Harrier     1
Red-tailed Hawk     2
American Coot     10
Black-bellied Plover     30
Black Oystercatcher     25
Greater Yellowlegs     10
Western Sandpiper     80
Dunlin (Pacific)     200
Mew Gull     1
Western Gull     6,     Western x Glaucous-winged Gull (hybrid)     100
California Gull     4
Herring Gull (American)     3
Glaucous-winged Gull     150
Common Murre     1
Pigeon Guillemot     50
Cassin’s Auklet     3
Rock Pigeon     40
Belted Kingfisher     2
Northwestern Crow     8
Winter Wren     4
Golden-crowned Kinglet     10
Song Sparrow     5
Golden-crowned Sparrow     6
Dark-eyed Junco (Oregon)     8

Monday Checklists

Here are some of the sightings from specific locations today as we moved from Lacey to Sequim, Washington:

Location:     Kennedy Creek estuary
Observation date:     1/25/10
Number of species:     13

American Wigeon     40
Northern Pintail     60
Green-winged Teal     10
Double-crested Cormorant     1
Black-bellied Plover     15
Dunlin (Pacific)     300
Glaucous-winged Gull     6
Northern Flicker (Red-shafted)     1
American/Northwestern Crow     12
Black-capped Chickadee     1
Chestnut-backed Chickadee     4
Golden-crowned Kinglet     6
Ruby-crowned Kinglet     1
Golden-crowned Sparrow     4

Location:     Potlatch State Park
Observation date:     1/25/10
Number of species:     17

American Wigeon     60
Mallard     10
Greater Scaup     25
Bufflehead     15
Common Goldeneye     15
Barrow’s Goldeneye     6
Red-breasted Merganser     12,   Harlequin  1
Common Loon     4
Horned Grebe     4
Red-necked Grebe     1
Double-crested Cormorant     16
Great Blue Heron     1
Bald Eagle     1
California Gull     2
Herring Gull     2
Glaucous-winged Gull     8
American/Northwestern Crow     30

Location:     Hama Hama River Delta
Observation date:     1/25/10
Number of species:     17

American Wigeon     50
Mallard     10
Northern Pintail     35
Greater Scaup     15
Surf Scoter     85
White-winged Scoter (North American)     15
Bufflehead     12
Common Goldeneye     40, Harlequin 2

Barrow’s Goldeneye     8,  Red-breasted Merganser   16,  Common Loon     1
Horned Grebe     5
Double-crested Cormorant     20
Great Blue Heron     1
Bald Eagle     2
Western x Glaucous-winged Gull (hybrid)     35
Glaucous-winged Gull     3
American/Northwestern Crow     40

Location:     Dosewallips State Park
Observation date:     1/25/10
Number of species:     18

Brant     75
American Wigeon     40
Northern Pintail     60
Green-winged Teal (American)     12
Surf Scoter     4
Bufflehead     15
Common Goldeneye     10
Common Loon     1
Horned Grebe     2
Great Blue Heron     1
Bald Eagle     1
Dunlin     25
Mew Gull     15
California Gull     12
Herring Gull     5
Glaucous-winged Gull     30
Spotted Towhee     2
Dark-eyed Junco (Oregon)     8

Location:     John Wayne Marina
Observation date:     1/25/10
Number of species:     20

American Wigeon     30
Greater Scaup     4
Surf Scoter     8
Long-tailed Duck     1
Bufflehead     25
Common Goldeneye     25
Barrow’s Goldeneye     4
Hooded Merganser     3
Red-breasted Merganser     16
Common Loon     1
Horned Grebe     4
Double-crested Cormorant     15
Pelagic Cormorant     3
Great Blue Heron     1
Black Oystercatcher     1
Western x Glaucous-winged Gull (hybrid)     25
California Gull     2
Pigeon Guillemot     2
Belted Kingfisher     1
Bushtit (Pacific)     25
Ruby-crowned Kinglet     1

Location:     Seqium and Dungeness
Observation date:     1/25/10
Number of species:     23

Trumpeter Swan     62
American Wigeon     50
Mallard     40
Northern Pintail     30
Green-winged Teal     12
Surf Scoter     16
Common Goldeneye     10
Red-breasted Merganser     4
Pelagic Cormorant     6
Great Blue Heron     1
Bald Eagle     2
Northern Harrier     1
Cooper’s Hawk     1
Red-tailed Hawk     1
Black-bellied Plover     18
Marbled Godwit     1
Sanderling     15
Western Sandpiper     20
Dunlin     130
Mew Gull     10
Western x Glaucous-winged Gull (hybrid)     30
California Gull     6
Pigeon Guillemot     2
Mourning Dove     2