More photos of the weird gull

It is alway fun to encounter birds that make you study. With that in mind, here are a few more images of the weird gull.Here is the gull in the middle of the flock with an adult Herring Gull. When the Herring Gull was standing in front of the weird gull. It was taller. You could see the a good portion of the mantle and all of the head.
A little different view of the gull
I tried to get a flight shot that might tell us more. A jogger came along I got my camera ready but it is a point and shot. This is what it got. It isn't much but maybe it will help a little.

Weird Gull

It was an awesome day of birding on Jekyll today. It was high tide in the morning so we headed right out to the south end. Warblers, flycatchers, mimic thrushes and one stunting look at a Sedge Wren slowed us on the way out to the beach. I eased out so the birds would get used to us. The first bird that caught my attention was a very large pale gull. First impression was Glaucous Gull. It was next to an adult Herring Gull and it was a little larger but not enough for Glaucous Gull. As we watch the bird flew just a few feet so we saw the wings which were very pale but the wing tips were coffee colored as was the tail band. Here a photo of the gull. Any ideas? I threw in some young Herring Gulls to compare.

Young Herring Gull Another young Herring Gull

Northern Parula rules

There is a wonderful Bird Sanctuary on Jekyll. It is in the campground at the north end of the island. Anna Layton, a birding gypsy, pushed hard to get the feeders up. Later I added a bird bath with a drip. Marjorie Clark and Don Youngblood helped keep the bath up and running. All the folks who keep this little slice of heaven up and running are rewarded especially right now for several species of warblers use this area. Come sit and enjoy. By the way does anyone out there know where Anna is these days?

Here is the North Parula ruling the bath.

April arrives

Well it is April and a couple of my favorite birds have returned.
The Chimney Swifts were over my house on April 1. I just completed my column on the amazing birds the day before so I was trilled to hear and see them overhead. I don’t have a photo of the birds. Years ago I followed Chimney Swift for a seasons. I sketched these wonderful birds. I found it awhile back and scan it and did some play with the background.


The next bird arrived on April 4th here. These Great Crested Flycatchers are peaking down from their high perch on the magnolia tree. What a great call they have. This is one of the most common summer birds around.

Putting up Plover Sign

On Tuesday April 1, Gene Keferl, John Galvani and I put up the Wilson’s Plover nesting signs at the southend of Jekyll. Another Jekyll person Bob Reed helped in the area that he walks. He is a big help during the season letting us know how these birds are doing.
Any way it was a plover day. We had 8 PIPING PLOVERS from the Water Tower on the east side around to the south end. When we were about out of energy we were rewarded by John finding the SNOWY PLOVER with the banded Piping Plover. These birds have been here throughout the winter season. The Snowy Plover is very elusive. We also had 3 WILSON’S PLOVERS and a Black-bellied Plover. These birds were mixed in with good flocks of Sanderlings, Dunlins, Least Sandpipers and Willets. Right at Jekyll Point the gull and tern and skimmers were piled up. In this mix was one Lesser Black-backed Gull. It was a super afternoon.
Good Birding