Thanks to the return of the wet stuff, I am officially in a forced recovery day. I should probably give a hat-tip to the weather gods based on the muscle whining while getting out of bed this morning. Instead, I get to spend the day learning about the traditional muscle structures of those “grotesque” creatures that watch us upon their high perches and hopefully test out some new wing linkages – Halloween is nearly here people ha! Meanwhile, Brad is going to give us a look at another creature with wings that do not illicit the same level of nightmares… unless you are foolish enough to let them see your cheese curl while strolling along the beach. Time to grab your favorite dark chocolate treat (thanks for the recent restock Brad and Jan!), sit back and enjoy a few laughs.
Take it away Brad…
Jan and I had just returned from a long day of birding along the Atlantic Coast. I think we carried our cameras for 9 miles that day. No monopods. No fancy shoulder straps. No sherpas. Don’t feel sorry for us–we were on vacation after all. And we are retired. But after chasing birds in swamps, marshes, and forests (and avoiding the more than occasional alligator) we decided to have a little bit of fun.
Our resort on Hilton Head was right on the beach (aren’t they all). Keep in mind that it’s mid-February on a beach; the high temperature that day was almost 60F (but only if you rounded up). Normally, a beach and cold weather don’t go together. Beach (more specifically sand) and camera gear don’t go together either, but there was nary a breeze this time of day and no fluffy blowing sand to worry about. I remember Brian and his brother Ron getting caught in a sand storm on a beach in Texas and I didn’t want to repeat their adventure. Plus, I didn’t want to have to extricate sand castles from my lenses and cameras. My camera gear coverage from Wildlife Intrigued hasn’t quite started yet; still the newbie I guess.
The light breeze didn’t stop the gulls from entertaining us.
Hit the jump to see more antics.
Jan and I had only walked about 5 minutes up the beach (north or left whichever way you are keeping score at home) when a group of gulls started to fly around us. As with most landlubbers, and those that live in the middle of the continent, any white flying bird near a body of water is a “seagull”. We really didn’t care what they were called (Ring-billed Gulls for the record) because they were very entertaining. The frenzy reminded me of middle schoolers gathering for a dance at school. Everyone was being a bit goofy and not really quite sure what to do.
The fun started with a gull flying by us only a few feet above the sand. This one wasn’t very far from being a full adult. It was probably already been through its second winter.
The way to tell is the brown mottled gulls are first winter (“first years” or grade-school aged). The ones with mostly adult coloring but speckled faces are second winter and are nearly adults (think of junior high or middle schoolers depending on where you live). It’s during the third year when Ring-billed Gulls look, and mostly act like adults. Even as adults, many retain a few brown speckles on the back and sides of their heads. Breeding vs. non-breeding can usually be determined by the eye color for the most part. The bright yellow eyes are usually sported by the breeding gulls, at least according to many websites. Though, that’s not something you can bring up in polite gull conversation. We spotted gulls in nearly every possible combination of plumage. One poor gull had brown mottled coloring everywhere except on its shoulders and upper back where the adult plumage was growing in. It was definitely rocking the gawky teenager vibe.
As the gulls assembled for the party, I think we were in the way.
Jan was taking as many photos as the camera would let her. These were mostly first-years, or gulls that have seen their first winter, but don’t quite have the adult plumage yet. While they are fully capable of flight, they probably aren’t as good at it yet as they should be. Many are still growing into their wings, so to speak. Remember your awkward 7th or 8th grade years?
I think we stumbled into a teenage gull dance party.
Mr. Miyagi would have been proud. Though it should have been perched on a post to practice the crane stance. (kids go ask your parents about Mr. Miyagi and Karate Kid).
Jan and I differ on what this one was really doing. Keeping with the dance party theme, Jan thinks the gull disc jockey was playing the DJ Khaled song “All I Do is Win” – Everybody hands go up!
I was thinking about the Olympics and thought it was the universal symbol for “I stuck the landing.” There is a ½ point deduction for not having both feet in a straight line. The gull behind it was so excited it offered a high five.
C’mon, don’t leave me hangin’.
Another was showing off his/her new flying and almost “less than perfect” landing ability.
At first it looked like he could hang on, but then . . .
Face plant! Sure hope no one was looking.
Hahaha, did you see what Jonathan Livingston just did? (apologies to Richard Bach) But just like middle school, there were dozens of camera phones pointed in every direction so no one missed anything.
Then there’s the tough guy in the room. Whatchu lookin’ at?
I have to admit, Jan and I were both laughing quite hard at this point, making it hard to steady the cameras even with vibration reduction (VR) on full. This all happened in the span of a minute or two. I’m sure anyone watching from their resort balcony was also grinning. Being right in the middle of it all added hilarity. As quickly as it started, the gulls dispersed. They were probably going to an after-party at someone’s house.
Thank you for reading. If you want to see more Ring-billed Gull photos, please visit here.
Credits
Thanks again to Jan and Allyson for proofreading and editing. Thanks to Jan for many of the photos in this article.
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