Tuesday, September 14, 2010

See? Gull.

I took this picture back in June, and then forgot about it again. Now I'm going through all the pictures of the summer, trying to post the forgotten ones before it's too late, and summer is too far gone. I saw a bunch of these gulls one day at Boulevard Park, and have never seen them before or since. I did an exhaustive web search (about five minutes :-)) to try to discover what type of gull it is, but I couldn't figure it out. Usually we just have herring gulls or western gulls, so this type really stood out with its striking black head stripe and orange beak. Anybody know what it is?

Also, I just discovered this "Bellingham State of Mind" video on youtube that I've got to share! It's a riff on "Empire State of Mind," and very cute. Doesn't it make you want to come visit us in Bellingham?


7 comments:

  1. I need to do this also...gleaning through my summer photos before the time has passed. Plus, I need to get out and take more new photos. Out of town company is gone today, so I should do better. Love the gull...I'm lost as to what kind it is. Love the sky behind him too.

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  2. Actually your bird isn't a gull, it's a very nice example of a tern. Caspian Tern I would think, if you took it in summer.

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  3. Thanks, Paul! No wonder it didn't turn up in any gull searches.

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  4. Tern or gull, but I have 100% feeling that the photo was made by other bird, flying around. Great composition!

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  5. Great capture. Those are hard to photograph in flight.

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  6. So glad you posted this before the end of the season.

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  7. This is a Caspian Tern, which had about 6,000 residents here in Bellingham this summer. Here's a good article if you're interested: http://www.whatcomwatch.org/php/WW_open.php?id=1216

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