Sunday, November 10, 2013

Sabine's at last

Sabine's Gull is a bird I've been anticipating for a long time.  I definitely didn't expect it would take nearly a decade over here to see one though.  Their peak time is about 3rd or 4th week of September based on what Indiana gets so they had pretty much passed off the radar for the year.  This morning with decent winds I was mainly just hoping for a Kittiwake or a Harlequin Duck.  Imagine my surprise when this juvenile flew into my binocular view...


Never having seen one before I was surprised by just how great the contrast was between the black leading edge and the white trailing edge, kind of an inverse Bonaparte's pattern.


I've made over 700 visits to Tiscornia, this was my 16th species of gull here.  Eighteen or nineteen have been seen here.  You can just make the bird out about 5-600 yards from the overlook flying right, towards the lighthouse.

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