Laughing Gull Love

Laughing Gulls evidently pair up in May also, and they seem to have courtship rituals that closely resemble the terns. Arching one's neck is one move that always impresses the female Laughing Gulls.


Loud calls appeared to play a role in Laughing Gull courtships, just as they did in the courtship rituals of Common Terns.


Like the Common Terns, Male Laughing Gulls will bring gifts of food to potential mates.


There was a whole lot of pairing up going on when we visited Pymouth Beach in May, 2011.


There was a whole lot of mating going on, too. This 'piggy-back' position is really an introduction to intercourse for the gulls.

Best artistic (sort of) shots from Plymouth

The famous Tern Rock. (see pics from Bird-a-thon 2010!)


Lining up for a bite?


These two Common Terns look as though they are having a tea party!


Gull and tern in flight.


At the beginning and at the end of the day, we were serenaded by the melodious song of a sparrow.

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A Sampling from Bird-a-thon 2011 at Plymouth Beach

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A beautiful Common Tern battling the breezes.


Three Laughing Gulls that look like they are singing in harmony!


A tiny little Bonaparte's Gull. Named after tiny little Napolean Bonaparte.


One of my very favorite Shorebirds: the Dunlin!


The first sighting of an Arctic Tern in 2011!

Bird-a-thon 2011

Willet

These are some of the pictures that Pete, Tom, and I took during Birdathon last year.

Piping Plover

Birdathon is a 24 hour race to find as many bird species as possible in Massachusetts. It a big fundraiser for Mass Audubon, but it's also a way to get detailed "state of the birds" data and migration data.

Roseate and Common Terns

Birdathon is also a crazed competition between Mass Audubon sanctuaries. Different teams spread out throughout the state - climbing mountains and wading through swamps - just to find that one rare species that might win the day for their team.

Yellow Warbler

Last year we met up with my cousin Catie in Bridgewater on Friday night. (Catie's BirdingGirl blog inspired me to start blogging two years ago!)

Marbled Godwit

We were up at dawn to try our luck at Plymouth Airport, then Tom, Pete, and I walked all the way out to the very tip of the peninsula at Plymouth Beach and all the way back in.

Canada Goslings

Then Pete dragged us to the Daniel Webster sanctuary to add even more birds to the list!

Laughing Gull

Despite the endless and very tiring walk, Plymouth Beach was a blast - and a birder's delight.

Common Tern

Pete can't be here for Birdathon this year. He started a new job as a Forest Ranger in Oregon yesterday. I still haven't adjusted to not having him around, and I miss him terribly.

Common Tern

Between not having Pete to ID birds and my residual pain and vision problems from breathing in metal dust and glue fumes last winter, I was planning to skip Birdathon this year.

Semipalmated Plover

But at the very last minute I changed my mind! I might not do as well without Pete, but with Tom at my side I'm going to try. I'll probably embarrass myself - but at least it's for a good cause!

Of course, I'm really desperate for donations now because Birdathon is only two days away. If you can spare a few dollars to save The Nature of Massachusetts, I'd be eternally grateful!

A Tragic End for Our Laughing Gulls?

Laughing Gulls are named after the sound they make, which sounds like laughing. But they often look like they're laughing, too! 

Sometimes, they look comical enough to make us laugh!  This is how Laughing Gulls look with the wind in their hair.

Laughing gulls are our smallest gulls, and are gorgeous and graceful in flight.

Two ships passing in the night (actually, two birds passing in the day!)

The one looking up may be having a drink of water. Laughing Gulls have a salt gland that allows them to drink sea water. They prefer fresh water, but when you're thirsty; you're thirsty!

This is a Laughing Gull pulled from the Louisiana coast earlier this month.  The pictures taken by AP photographer Charlie Riedel have become tragically famous, but we can't escape the horrible effects of the gulf oil spill just because we are far removed from the spill itself.

Many of the Laughing Gulls that breed here in the Northeast spend their winters in the Gulf of Mexico.  Think about all those happy birds at the beginning of this post being trapped and terrified and struggling to breathe in the oil slicked waters of their winter home.  I can hardly breathe myself just thinking about it. 

Bird-A-Thon Pictures!

Piping Plover at Plymouth Beach.  Endangered Species.

Bird-a-thon was awesome!  It was insane and exhausting, but also fun and rewarding. Our little team of four netted 52 different bird species. I suspect that is on the low side for really enthusiastic birders, but I thought we did an outstanding job. Tom took all of these pictures, and every one of them is outstanding, too. We even saw Piping Plovers, a lifer for me, I think. They are cute, adorable, and endangered.  (BTW, you should view these pictures LARGE or ORIGINAL size at Flickr.  They are really that good!)

Willet on Plymouth Beach.

Mid-day Saturday was shorebirds at Plymouth Beach. This is a Willet. Willets are large shorebirds, speckled gray-brown with a long straight bill. Willets look quite nondescript on the ground, but once in flight or even with wings spread out, they are distinguished by their striking black-and-white color pattern.

Common Tern in Flight

We saw four different species of terns in Plymouth! Four! This beauty is a Common Tern, which is not at all common as far as I'm concerned.

Laughing Gull, May 15 2010

All four of Massachusetts' gulls were well represented, too. I couldn't resist this shot of a laughing gull.

Marbled Godwit

I wanted a Yellowlegs, but I got a Godwit. I actually failed to see more than a couple of my target species, but seeing a Marbled Godwit in the spring is quite rare, or so I've been told. Pete and I saw this guy on Saturday. A birder from another Bird-A-Thon team gave us the ID and the info on this species. If he hadn't, I'd still be looking through field guides!

More to come later on. Thanks especially to BirdingGirl (my cousin and inspirational fellow blogger!) for joining our Birdathon team and taking us birding in Bridgewater Friday evening!

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