Proof of patch

A lot of birders have an area they consider their patch.  There's probably as many criteria as to what constitutes a patch as there are birders.  The most important, however, is how often are you there?  If you're just chasing some bird or just checking during peak migration, it doesn't really count.  You can say you're there a lot.  Or you can be there a lot.  So often that you show up on the satellite photos.  Tim's car has been on the Google maps satellite and street view for a couple years now.  I was on Zillow.com earlier today and noticed the satellite pics were taken in late spring or early summer, as opposed to the early spring Google maps views.  I scrolled over to Tiscornia and what did I find?  A small gray car in the counter spot (Tim's), a buffer zone empty spot, and a red sedan in the spot next to it.  HA!  That would be my car.  Some of the fishermen's cars in the SE corner of the lot are probably ID-able too.

I'm not sure if I should be ashamed or proud, but I can tell you I'm proud.

Here's a few pics from earlier this week from (where else?) the pier.

I think this Glaucous Gull is 2nd winter, based on the still bi-colored bill and without strong evidence of the gray mantle or wing coverts that start coming in for 3rd winter.  It has a bit of the smudgy stuff you commonly see in the axilla area in 2nd winter birds (though I don't know if that increases or decreases as the winter progresses; I've certainly seen birds with a lot more than this one).