OK, so we saw the MEW GULL, a life bird for both of us. That makes 511 for me, 523 for Shari. Shari is ahead, and will probably stay ahead, because she is brave and has the fortitude [alternative: she is nuts] to withstand pelagic outings to find birds that rarely come close to shore, including winter pelagic trips where she has to dress up like a commercial fisherperson out to capture cod in the mid-Atlantic, while I refuse to subject myself to the freezing winds and the sickening smell of diesel fuel. I was seasick on the Block Island Ferry which is about a 45 minute ride--7 or 8 hours on the open sea sounds like hell to me.
We went to the same spot on Gravesend Bay as last week, timing our arrival a little before high tide (why the gull prefers to hang out around high tide I don't understand) and found 4 or 5 birders already in place. Someone had the gull in his scope so it was an easy "get." We latched onto the bird with our own scope and binoculars, got very satisfying looks at what is rather a nondescript gull (a completely yellow bill and dark eye is about all that distinguishes it from a Ring-bill Gull), it flew away a few minutes after we arrived and we went on our way.
Yes, it seems silly. But then we only went across Brooklyn to see it. We didn't travel from upstate as some birders were planning to do.
A quick look at the bay around the Owl's Head Water Pollution Control Plant yielded no Purple Sandpipers on the rocks. Seems like a good habitat for them. I'd like to find them this year some place other than the slippery jetty at Barnegat Light. There were plenty of gulls in the water. Whatever the plant doesn't control they get to eat.
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