A Windy Day On The Coast 1/20/07

Above Photos: Bonaparte's Gull, Ring-billed Gull, Ring-billed Gull.
The weather channel said the wind was blowing 25 to 35 mph when I crawled out of bed this morning. With low expectations I headed for the coast with the hopes of photographing the Eurasian Wigeon that has been hanging out in one of the ponds at Eagles Nest Golf Course in West Ocean City. Because of the frigid winds that were blowing there were not any golfers so I was allowed to walk out on the course and get as close as possible to the wigeon flock. Unfortunately my sneaking up on duck flock skills are real rusty. As soon as the ducks saw me they swam to the other side of the pond which resulted in the far photo of the Eurasian Wigeon in the photo gallery. Although the duck was distant the photo still shows the diagnostic marks of the rust colored head and the cream patch on top of the head. Eurasian Wigeons are annual visitors to the Delmarva Peninsula but they are still considered quite rare and this bird is the only one that has stuck around this year. They are usually found in flocks with American Wigeons. At the large Ocean Pines pond there had assembled a massive gull flock which held an adult Lesser Black-backed Gull. Like Eurasian Wigeons, Lesser Black-backed Gulls are from the Old World and until recently were considered real good finds. But in the recent years Lesser Black-backed Gulls have become regular up and down the east coast. Any large congregation of gulls will usually yield at lest one Lesser. I hit Indian River Inlet on the changing tide and Gannets were working the mouth of the inlet along with a large flock of Bonaparte's Gulls. I couldn't find any Little or Black-headed Gulls in the Bonie flock. Out at the end of the north jetty I got photos of Sanderlings working the edges of the rocks with Ruddy Turnstones and Purple Sandpipers. At Rehobeth's Silver Lake I was surprised to find a female Shoveler amoung all the Black Duck/Mallard hybrids. It was a good day to be out. The wind was howling and made my eyes tear up every time I lifted my camera or binoculars but the air was clear and the sun was bright and the birds were almost cooperative.