the rocky coast of Maine!
With the rolling waves along the coast, it wasn't hard to see a bird and then lose it behind a wave. Then it's a matter of pointing to something and saying "see that blue buoy, it's right of that" or "left of that raft of eiders" or "just beyond that furthest rock". A good way to hone your "where's that bird" skills!
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| Ron pointing something out! |
Mill Creek, South Portland is a great place to find gulls! In this picture, there are Herring, Ring-billed, Glaucous, Iceland (Kumlien's) and Great Black-backed gulls.
The Iceland Gull or Kumlien's (American race) is one of the "white-winged" gulls we see in the east. It's bigger than a ring-billed gull but smaller than a herring gull and is said to have a "baby" face.
Our other white-winged gull is the Glaucous Gull. It's too bad this one was snoozing, it would have been nice to show the bill compared to the Kumlien's. Glaucous are as big as the largest Herring gulls and rather "stern" looking.
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| common loon |
We stopped at Bug Light in South Portland and found a few winter plumage Common Loons. Even though you think of loons as being on a golden pond, in winter they're common along the coast.
A red-breasted merganser was finding food! Is he having a "bad hair" day? No, they always look this way, it's a good field mark!
