Tag: Ring-Billed Gull

Food Fight…by Brad Marks

Greetings everyone! It was a busy weekend at the HQ with all the haunt production activities now in full swing and yesterday we held our 3rd Intrigued Corporate Warbler Watch and Walk in the Woods (IC4W). I won’t say much about the walk as I am pretty sure there will be a story or two coming in the future. It was definitely a great time to be out in the field with the staff and doing what we love to do – shooting feathers (with our cameras, of course) and getting caught up on life, family, injuries, hobbies, endurance sports and definitely some bird knowledge bantered about. Now, some have eluded to this really being their annual birding-acumen assessment as part of their annual performance reviews. Crazy talk, just a fun time with the boss…now let me just grab my clipboard and we’ll be on our way. Going to let Brad take the wheel for today’s post while I finish up all my notes on the assessment forms…sorry, I mean wrap up submitting all the eBird reports from our fun walk.

Take it away Brad…

We are coming up on the end of my third-year writing (almost 100 stories) and photographing for Wildlife Intrigued.  I’ve learned it’s not all about just taking photos.  Oh sure, Jan and I take tens of thousands of photos per year, and sometimes we take that many on a single assignment (22k in Hilton Head in total).  It’s really about observing wildlife and learning to anticipate what might happen next and then telling the story.  Often the whole story happens in just a few moments.  Now, if I can just figure out when the fun stuff is going to happen and take fewer photos of “boring” stuff.  If you’ve figured this out, let me know in the comments.

Jan and I have taken a few trips to South Carolina during cold Illinois winter months.  Like most who travel to the ocean’s edge, we try to ignore the hordes of seagulls.  Although, I learned two years ago that there is more than one type of “seagull”, and that gulls can be quite entertaining (here) if given a chance.  They can also be quite competitive.

Gulls found by Brad and Jan in South Carolina

Warning, one or more fish were likely harmed in the making of this post, but that’s gonna happen when in proximity to today’s featured feathered friends. Hit the jump to see who wins the “prize”.

Continue reading Food Fight…by Brad Marks

Dance Party…by Brad Marks

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.

Gulls from Brad Marks

Hit the jump to see more antics.

Continue reading Dance Party…by Brad Marks

Gulls, Gulls, Gulls…by Brad Marks

Hello everyone and welcome to July or as I call it now “Ja’ Y’d You F Up Your Summer”. Just a quick update, I made it through surgery and everywhere I walk the 6 Million Dollar Man theme can now be heard. Big thanks to my wife for having to pick up the slack (although hiding my running shoes is a bit cruel!), Brad has been keeping my spirits up and truly appreciate all of your kind thoughts and wishes for a speedy recovery. Unfortunately, I have a ways to go…not to mention now having to tear the house apart for my shoes…the race is this weekend!!!! Luckily, Brad has several posts in the hopper to fill the void. Take care everyone.

Take it away Brad…

Doesn’t that title remind you of a song from the hair bands of the 1980’s, MTV, and a specific lifeguard sitcom?   Just try to get that out of your head while you read the story.

In the past, we at Intrigued have talked about “LBJ’s” (little brown jobbers).  There should also be an acronym for the nearly endless variety of gulls.  The company Brian and I used to work for had thousands of acronyms.  There were so many . . . how many were there . . . there were so many acronyms that we had a spiral-bound notebook just to be able to keep track of them all.  Whenever I see a seagull flying around, even this far inland in central Illinois, I think it’s just another seagull, or just another gull (JAG).  The word “seagull” is a generic term for any gull-like bird near water.  Many of the “gulls” I see on a regular basis are nowhere near a major body of water.  I don’t normally take the time to tell the gulls apart.  I usually just call it a seagull, remind myself to tag it later in Lightroom as a “gull”, and then move onto the business of enjoying the rest of our vacation.

Gulls from Brad Marks

On our recent winter trip to South Carolina, I was doing the same thing.  Jan and I took photos of “gulls” we saw flying near the ocean.  It wasn’t really until we took a walk on Sunset Beach that I realized “Hey, these don’t all look the same.”  I thought, “Great, something else I need to identify when we get home.”  And before anyone asks, I don’t think any of these were named Jonathon Livingston.

Hit the jump to see more gulls, gulls, gulls!

Continue reading Gulls, Gulls, Gulls…by Brad Marks

Oh, Emiquon Has Those Too … and Whatever That Is

I have just been informed there are only 31 days in May.  For normal people this fact probably does not generate much concern,  unless there is some form of payment due in which case you might feel a little concerned or perhaps agitated depending on the relationship of the debt to the individual’s bank account.  This is not at all how I happen to feel at the moment because that all seems trivial compared to full on PANIC when you realize that there are no more days to procrastinate before getting the final post out for the month.    I pretty much lucked out today.  The post topic was already decided last week and the images were post processed a few days earlier.  That leaves only the witty banter and insightful dialog that accompanies each post which (once again thanks to my brother) is now only done on the day of the post.  But, I am sure you are not hear to read about my trials and tribulations you want birds… and not just any birds, you want a MUTANT BIRD that no one else has ever seen before.

Setting the stage, if you recall during the first of these Emiquon posts we noticed an odd duck on our way out of the refuge. I then proceeded to relate the discovery of the American Shoveler.  There was actually another sighting that occurred right before we noticed the shoveler.  Something about it seemed a little odd but I could not put my finger on exactly what it was.  Then when we noticed the shovelers, I passed it off as simply being the new bird out of the water.  It was not until I went back to prep for this post series that I remembered those previous shots.  Having now become very familiar with the shoveler I can safely say.. that was NO SHOVELER!

Take a quick look at this shot and tell me what bird you think it is…. ready .. go

Remember what came to mind and hit the jump for further discussion

Continue reading Oh, Emiquon Has Those Too … and Whatever That Is