AndyB
February 4th, 2008, 12:01 AM
Went out to look at the winter roost of Black Skimmers and Mew Gulls near the port. This skimmer roost gives you a great opportunity to get close to these fascinating birds. I have attached some videograbs to this post. Here's the video I took with some skimming birds (http://surfbirds.com/video2/view_video.php?viewkey=750899bb03d998e63186).
Gulls were also obliging and in addition to the usual west coast species such as Heerman's, California and Ring-billed (all at close range), there were good numbers of Mew Gulls. The following videograbs show off the pale eye and primary pattern of the North American subspecies. Good to compare with Peter Alfrey's ID article (http://www.surfbirds.com/ID%20Articles/alfreymewgull0406/alfreymew0406.html).
Here's some video I took of various gulls (http://surfbirds.com/video2/view_video.php?viewkey=41366a4bbe8a49b02a02) (in order of appearance): Heerman's, California, Ring-billed and Mew Gulls.
Gulls were also obliging and in addition to the usual west coast species such as Heerman's, California and Ring-billed (all at close range), there were good numbers of Mew Gulls. The following videograbs show off the pale eye and primary pattern of the North American subspecies. Good to compare with Peter Alfrey's ID article (http://www.surfbirds.com/ID%20Articles/alfreymewgull0406/alfreymew0406.html).
Here's some video I took of various gulls (http://surfbirds.com/video2/view_video.php?viewkey=41366a4bbe8a49b02a02) (in order of appearance): Heerman's, California, Ring-billed and Mew Gulls.