g-g-g-gull unit

Work ended early for me yesterday, and I took a few hours in the afternoon to go back to Waterloo and look for gulls. After my last two visits turned up very few birds, today was quite busy!  I spent a few hours watching the gulls come and go from the fountain. I estimated these numbers for ebird, although no where near this many were present at any given time:


~400 Ring-billed Gulls (only 30 present on Saturday)
~500 Herring Gulls
1 Great Black-backed Gull
~4 Glaucous Gulls
~20-25 "Kumlien's" Iceland Gulls
3 Thayer's Gulls


2 of the Thayer's Gulls are the same dark Juveniles that I have featured here earlier. The third was an adult that I had not yet seen, and have added some snaps below. This is my 8th individual Thayer's here over the past few weeks!

Dark-ish eye. Lots of white in the wings. 

Primary pattern tells it apart from the other 2 adult Thayer's I've photo'd here recently 

The nice Thayer's pattern with lots of black, but only on the tounges. (outer edge of the feathers). Black only on 5 primaries for this bird. (I like to see 6, but overall the bird is very much acceptable). 

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I also took a few snaps of an adult Herring Gull with limited black in the primaries. I don't often photograph these birds, even though I do notice them pretty regularly when studying the adults. 

Not the best pics, but revealing. Notice how this Herring actually shows less black in the wings overall than the Thayer's, but the pattern is different. The last primary (P10) has lots of black covering most of the feather (not a tongue) and the others have very little black that are little bands across the tips of the feathers (again, not "tongues"). 

The Herring also has the pale eye and ugly mug of a Herring Gull (unlike the dark eye and more delicate mug of a Thayer's). 

Fun with Thayer's 

Nature Photography 104: Part 7: wakeup, shakeup and get movin...

To make a very long story short, I keep finding myself annoyed with nature photography. I was very worked up a few days ago, when I became quite confident that the winner of a fairly large photo contest must have edited/doctored the photo... I then look at said persons website, and found some very blatant editing along with large amounts of shameless self-promotion as a truly expert photographer. 

This really wasn't anything new, but I learned something from it: People can do whatever the heck they want, and I shouldn't care about it. If it bothers me, I can just focus on how I conduct myself and my photography! And with that said, I had the idea to reveal some of the work done on my own photos on my personal website. 

Are you ready for a look at everything you may or may not already know about nature photography? I'll post the website version first, followed by the totally un-edited original.

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Nature Photography 104: Part 7: wakeup, shakeup and get movin...

www.peregrineprints.com/zz_SEOW.htm

I started with the hot topic of owls in the last part (part 6), where I showed some photoshop stuff that didn’t take a lot of work, but changed the scene a fair bit. Today I’ll look at some of the dark underbelly of owl photography we all know and love.

Not much in the way of dramatic changes for this one. So what’s the deal? There’s no easy way to say it... But I simply walked out of the vehicle towards one of the most published SEOW spots in Ontario and got some of the owls up and flying. I was at a point where I was getting frustrated with seeing other photographers SEOW images, some of which were created with the same (miss-guided) technique, and just wanted to try it myself.

Not something I’m exactly proud of, and I let the birds fly around for a few minutes and comfortably return to their roost... Tried it once, took some photos, and have not done it again. I sort of think it is hard to develop good habits and practices without doing a few bad things in the learning process. My only excuse was being young and foolish! But anyways...

A late evening pic of a SEOW hunting some fallow grassland. Done 100% right, waiting by the road until sundown, SEOW’s emerge naturally, and try my best for photos. More of a “moody” shot, but certinatley a LOT more popular than the first image shown here...

A bit further away that I would like, but I was happy with the final result when cropped down and sharpened.

Not condoning this sort of behaviour, and can now preach that there are spectacular shots to be had by doing things the “right way”... But wanted to continue with the full-disclosure approach to these posts.

Nature Photography 104: Part 6: wake up makeup

To make a very long story short, I keep finding myself annoyed with nature photography. I was very worked up a few days ago, when I became quite confident that the winner of a fairly large photo contest must have edited/doctored the photo... I then look at said persons website, and found some very blatant editing along with large amounts of shameless self-promotion as a truly expert photographer.

This really wasn't anything new, but I learned something from it: People can do whatever the heck they want, and I shouldn't care about it. If it bothers me, I can just focus on how I conduct myself and my photography! And with that said, I had the idea to reveal some of the work done on my own photos on my personal website. 

Are you ready for a look at everything you may or may not already know about nature photography? I'll post the website version first, followed by the totally un-edited original.

____________________________________________

Part 6: wakeup makeup

http://www.peregrineprints.com/zz_SEOW.htm

Time to break out the big guns. Everyone loves owls, and they’re a lightning rod for controversy in the Ontario birding/photography scene. Up first is a few images from my Short-eared Owl collection:

One of my favourite owl images for a long time, my Dad and I were driving back-roads (starting at dawn) looking for owls and raptors, when we found this bird perched in a very unexpected location (not any “known” owl spot) --- perched in a tree in someone’s front yard! Only 5-6 feet off the ground. !!!

The first thing you may note about the two shots above is the sticks I’ve removed. I busted out the digital chainsaw,  but also wanted to not totally change the scene (you can see where I ended up drawing the line in the final image)...

But there is something you may not notice right away...... The “original” has the bird with a sleepy look in the eyes, where the final product is wide-awake with bright yellow eyes. The eyes are everything for an Owl pic, and I actually used photoshop to remove the shadows from the top of the eyes, then brought out the yellow a bit more. Not something that is noticeable right away, but it makes a world of difference in the pic (in my opinion)...

Up next:

Now we have the SEOW image I present front and centre on my SEOW page. Taken after sunset while driving some back country roads, the bird was simply perched on a roadside fencepost, and allowed me to drive right up and take some shots.

The late “golden hour” light is ultra-saturated and I hardly changed a thing!

I’ll probably stick to the SEOW theme for the next instalment of NP 104, and it’s a good one. 

Weather! Get your fill while it lasts

Saturday mid day edit:

Here's a nice look at the radar from Friday evening over southern Ontario (shows the Canadian + American radar) to give a better idea of the size and shape of the storm. Centre of Low is just above Lake Ontario by this time. 

Here's the stuff posted earlier today: 

As I write this, (Friday evening), there is some crazy weather happening. A powerful low pressure system is passing right over southern Ontario. And as all good weather-birders know, the centre of low pressure is where all of the air flows into!

Here's a crude map of the airflow going towards the centre of the low. That's a lot of air heading in our direction! At 4pm, the Burlington Lift Bridge weather station recorded the pressure at 98.7! And that's pretty low...

The only problem: is it's February! We are definitely into the very beginnings of spring migration around here, but it's not like a lot of birds are moving... If a weather pattern like this happened in late October (or dare I say, May), we'd be dancing the tango with rarities across the province...

Either way, I'd be very curious to see if anyone turns up some good birds.  The great thing about low pressure systems is that rarities can come from any direction. Some birds I'd like to see someone find: California/Mew Gulls... Ross's/Greater White-fronted Geese... Gyrfalcon... Great Cormorant... Another Mountain Bluebird... 

I'll also be keeping an eye on the nf.birds listerv (newofundland) to see if they get any Killdeer or the like in the next few days. Check out this jet stream:

Since the birds will have been arriving today (friday) and tomorow (saturday)... it would seem the best bet for a rarity to be found is Sunday, when the winds are light and the sun is out. (Good for birds and especially birders this time of year)..  But keep in mind, if you do go out looking for goodies on Sunday.. Do not expect anything. I repeat, anything.. It's still February out there!

Just a fun look at the weather for this year. 

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A little extra to fill out the post: 

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Leucistic Curve-billed Thrasher:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/37247779@N07/6922059315/in/pool-437129@N20/

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Pale gull from Texas that DOES look decent for a bleached Slaty-backed Gull (good luck confirming though):

http://www.flickr.com/photos/47124804@N03/

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The London Ross's Goose:

http://www.theweathernetwork.com/your_weather/details/1920/5734400/270/upload/0?ref=ugc_yourweather_search

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Quebec White Morph Gyr:

http://www.quebecoiseaux.org/components/com_oiseauxrares/images/or_pictures/1329781025.jpg

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Speaking of Quebec, some Willow Ptarmigan have been reported a few hundred km from Ontario..... 

http://www.quebecoiseaux.org/index.php?option=com_oiseauxrares&Itemid=133&lang=fr

(scroll a few days down)...... 

We are only 59 days away from the last week of April..... 

The epic conclusion. Thayer's Week ---- Darkzilla, I am your FATHER !!!

All good things must come to an end.....

Ok maybe not the father of Darkzilla, but a really nice adult Thayer's Gull from Waterloo a several days ago. There were VERY few gulls present this visit (only about 100 standing around) including 2 Glaucous and 2 Kumliens... But gosh darn this bird really made the trip worth-while.... Let's have a look:

The prefect dark eye and pink orbital 

Black on 6 primaries! 

Very hard to "pick out" on the ground, unless you see that eye. 

The gray "tongue" on the primaries (below the white tertials), gives a Thayer's away. 

Nice patch on P5 ! 

Clean underneath.

Special thanks to this fine adult Thayer's to help end the first ever "Thayer's Week". I toyed with the idea of this adult bird being the "Father" of darkzilla (yesterday's dark Juvenile). Since "logic" would have us assume a great looking juvenile would grow into a great adult... If only we really knew...

Getting these Thayer's pics recently has returned my enthusiasm for some good old fashion gull-documentation photography... I hope you've enjoyed Thayer's week as much as I have... It's managed to get me through the work week, and it's now time to get back out gulling again!

Thayer's Gull Week: ..... Darkzilla .....

I've talked a fair bit already this week about Thayer's. But we're forgetting to do the most important thing, and that's just bask in their Thayery glory. 

Probably the darkest juvenile Thayer's Gull I've ever seen and/or photographed in southern Ontario: 

So exciting, it pretty much speaks for itself. If you have any questions about the bird, leave a comment and I'll reply (because right now, I'm happy as is, and leaving it short).

mmm Thayer's....

Thayer's week ! : Difficult adolescents

Thayer's week, day three.

Yesterday I talked a bit about how we can really only guess to the evolution of a Thayer's Gull's plumage as it gets older each year. But on top of that, I would like to take a look at how maybe the specific age of a bird can mess things up (and we may never know).

To help with the feature, another recent Waterloo Thayer's. This time, a bird in 2nd basic (2nd winter) plumage:

typical dark (but paler wings/tail/overall plumage than Herring gull) look... 

bigger/meaner look that many Kumliens

nice dark tail 

The flight shots aren't as pretty as some of the others, but I'll just use this bird as an example. I find myself seeing a LOT of 2nd winter Thayer's Gulls. Almost more than adults I think... And it got me thinking. What if the immaturity of these birds makes them darker? Many young gulls are darker than their adult plumages... Just look at our common Ring-billed Gulls in 2nd winter - almost all have darker wing tips (with more extensive black) than adults! 

Here's an old pic of a 3rd basic Thayer's: 

This bird as MEGA dark markings in the wingtips, but aside from that, doesn't look all that bad for Kumlien's. WHAT IF, next year (or 2 years down the road) the bird has lost 30/40% of the markings? Suddenly the hardcore gull watchers are saying the "adult" is a Kumlien's until proven otherwise? 

Old pic. 3rd basic Thayer's on left, 3rd basic Kumlien's on right.. 

Obviously this is rampant speculation on my part, but would be really interesting to know if (and how much) the wingtip pattern would change between ages 3 and 5+ ... As the above picture shows, we can still be fairly confident in telling these ages apart, since there are still many fairly obvious birds...

Oh Thayer's Gulls... You're so much fun. More on deck for tomorrow! (and it's a really sweet bird). 

Thayer's Week! - the typical problem

And it wouldn't be "Thayer's Week" without a lovely juvenile bird like this. Sure, it looks good for Thayer's (and that's what I'm calling it), but surely there's some Kumlien's in there. 15-20% maybe? Have a look: 

A little weak on all ID features, but they all point to Thayer's (dark wings, darkish (sorta) secondaries, dark centred scapualrs etc). Things like the semi-marbled tertials are also a bit iffy. 

Wouldn't it be fascinating to know what this bird looks like when it grows up? 

Normal logic would suggest the bird will grow up to be a "middle of the pack" Thayer's-ish thing, similar to the bird presented below (posted on the blog last week): 

It is nother bird I'm calling a "Thayer's", since it does seem to fit the bill really for Kumlien's.. . But it ain't exactly perfect... Is this the future of today's (juvenile) Thayer's? Logically it makes sense, but gulls really don't understand logic.

I'm just guessing here, but it would seem almost equally as likely to grow up into a whole new mess. Maybe it could grow up to look like a normal Kumlien's Iceland Gull: 

Or maybe it grows up into a spectacular perfect Thayers:

We really don't know, but it would be awesome if we could.... Can we start catching these things? Would keeping them as pets be bad for them? Would be an awesome study to learn from.......

More Thayer's coming at you tomorrow!