Favoritos de kitemongoose

Note stout build; dark, slightly drooping bill w/ distinctive orange base; conspicuous white wing-stripes across the base of remiges in flight here. (Their yellow legs are hidden but present). These two were among a small flock (approx. 30-40) that were gathered on a rock jetty in Delaware Bay. As typical of their behavior, when I flushed them, they flew out a short distance, low over the water, and then returned.

1 out of 3 new fledgings. Observed parent to be busy flying up and down feeding all 3 fledgings that are perched on relatively apart trees. Feeding happened quickly where the parent handed its catch to the fledging and immediately took flight away. Second successful nesting using the same hole.

Goshawks were also active this morning and feeding on a dead bird. Both goshawks were actively flying around too and mated briefly.

Nest fell down near camp ground and chicks were brought to us. We strung up the nest with the chicks back inside and raised it up. After playing recordings of the adults they came out and the chicks flew off to them.

What's going on in this first photo? - It appears that these are two juveniles; one trying to feed from the mouth of the other. - Compared to what's clearly an adult feeding a chick in the second photo..

These are all nesting in a large tree that appears to be dying away due to the quantity of fouling, if that's possible. The odd little black shag and little shag here also, but mainly pied shags nesting.

A Fox Squirrel seen eating what appears to be a Smartie on the University of Nebraska college campus in 2021.

Note: I do not condone feeing squirrels candy! I did not, i just captured the squirrels. They unfortunately have an unhealthy diet thanks to the college population.

Heermann’s Gull (with distinctive red bill) carefully preening his feathers.

Why do seagulls live by the sea? Because if they lived by the bay they would be bagels :-)

Heermann's Gull:
"Heermann's Gulls have an unusual "backwards" migration: they breed mostly south of the United States and then move north for the nonbreeding season. After breeding is over in July, the gulls quickly come north all the way to southern Canada. They head back southward by December, and most breeders are at the breeding islands by March.
Perhaps as a result of increasing populations in Mexico, some Heermann's Gulls now breed in California, with the first successful nests at Seaside in central California, where they have nested on artificial islands and rooftops since 1999."

The Cornell Lab: https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Heermanns_Gull/
"Possibly the easiest-to-identify gull in North America, Heermann’s Gulls in breeding plumage are mostly deep storm-cloud gray with a pearly white head and a brilliant red bill. Immatures are also distinctive, with dark sooty brown plumage and little streaking or mottling. These medium-sized gulls breed in Mexico's Gulf of California and then migrate northward to spend late summer and fall along the Pacific Coast. They feed mainly on anchovies and sardines, often harrying pelicans and other seabirds to steal their catches."
The Cornell Lab (Birds in U.S. and Canada, includes Compare with Similiar Species) https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/

Heermann's Gull (Larus heermanni) Conservation Status: Near Threatened (NT) (IUCN Red List).
Adults have a red bill with a small black tip. They are vulnerable to disturbance on main nesting islands in western Mexico, where fishermen sometimes land to harvest eggs. Small numbers have irregularly nested on small man made islets on the central California coast (Robert's Lake). In the summer, flocks of these distinctive gulls move north along the Pacific Coast from their nesting grounds, with some stopping in the Monterey Bay area.
Description: Adults have a red bill with a small black tip, a medium gray body, blackish-gray wings, and tail with white edges. The head is dusky gray in non-breeding plumage and white in breeding plumage.
Habitat: Favors the immediate coast, including beaches, rocky shores, estuaries, coastal lagoons, offshore kelp beds. Unlike some other coastal gulls, seldom visits freshwater ponds or garbage dumps like other gulls.
Diet: Fish and other small marine life. Eats many species of small fish, also crustaceans, mollusks, and insects. Occasionally eats eggs of other birds, refuse, or carrion. Sometimes steals food from Brown Pelican.
Bird feathers wear out. Most birds replace their flight feathers once a year and their body feathers at least once (in many species twice) a year. In gulls however, birds hatched last year keep their feathers for up to a couple months longer than a calendar year.

The Cornell Lab: https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Heermanns_Gull/
"Possibly the easiest-to-identify gull in North America, Heermann’s Gulls in breeding plumage are mostly deep storm-cloud gray with a pearly white head and a brilliant red bill. Immatures are also distinctive, with dark sooty brown plumage and little streaking or mottling. These medium-sized gulls breed in Mexico's Gulf of California and then migrate northward to spend late summer and fall along the Pacific Coast. They feed mainly on anchovies and sardines, often harrying pelicans and other seabirds to steal their catches."
The Cornell Lab (Birds in U.S. and Canada, includes Compare with Similiar Species) https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/

Ebird https://ebird.org/species/heegul/

Audubon Guide to North American Birds https://www.audubon.org/field-guide/bird/heermanns-gull

Bird songs, sound recordings, and species range map: https://xeno-canto.org/species/Larus-heermanni

INaturalist Project: https://www.inaturalist.org/projects/gull-watchers

National Geographic Field Guide to the Birds of Western North America, ed. Jon L. Dunn, 2008, pp. 170-171.

Monterey Birds, Don Roberson, 2nd ed. 2002, sponsored by Monterey Peninsula Audubon Society, p. 224.

National Geographic Field Guide to the Birds of North America, ed. Jon L. Dunn, 7th ed., 2017

Merlin Bird ID: How to use/get the portable App (Bird ID help for 8,500+ species) https://merlin.allaboutbirds.org/

Comprehensive Feather I.D. tools and more: https://foundfeathers.org/resources/

Found Feathers (Worldwide): https://www.fws.gov/lab/featheratlas/idtool.php