This will be short. I attended the first Gull Frolic since the pandemic began, on February 19, 2022. It was clear and very cold, there was a lot of ice, and normally these would have been good conditions to attract a lot of gulls, but the gulls have been affected by the pandemic too, in that they noticed a significant drop in human activity and had to adjust. I think the prevailing consensus was that the gulls were likely at the town dump, and they might have eventually worked their way over to the yacht club where the event is held every year. But in general, there were hardly any gulls, most of them were Herring Gulls, and after a while those that came were no longer very interested in the bread being thrown to them.
I endured the cold as long as I could. It was good to see some people I knew and I met some new folks.
There were definitely more Canada Geese than gulls on the ice.
It seemed perfunctory to take some photos of the gulls going after slices of bread, even if they lacked the usual over-the-top enthusiasm.
Also a few flight photos were obligatory.
There were a couple gull species other than Herring that were seen but I did not manage to photograph them. I did get some distant shots at a male Harlequin Duck that was quite far away. He was keeping company with some Common Goldeneye.
I captured one Redhead and some of the Common Goldeneye…and a Greater Scaup in the upper right hand corner – thanks to Ann I am correcting omission of its ID.
and a pair of Bufflehead early on.
I did not recall ever having seen the sculptures below that are on rocks by the harbor.
Here are a few more frolicking Herring Gulls…
We are going to experience some freezing temperatures over the next couple of days but I doubt seriously that it will be cold enough to freeze the lake again.
I managed to get out this morning after two days stuck inside because of rain or the likelihood of it. I almost didn’t make it out the door, but I just could not stand to spend another morning on the futon. I will be back next with a little report on the status of the Chicago Portage. If we get snow overnight, which is the latest prediction, I will stay home and shovel tomorrow morning.
Quipped attempts to describe 
And as for other ducks, there were a few here and there, although none too close.
Of the two Thayer’s Gulls spotted, I was fortunate to get a shot of the one below when it finally decided soggy bread was worth bothering with. There was a flyover Great Black-Backed Gull I did not see because I was inside attending one of two lectures given by Jean Rice regarding her study of shorebirds in St. James Bay. At some point a Kumlien’s Gull appeared, but I was not seeing it. Maybe the camera saw the Kumlien’s but if I’m not aware of it, I prefer not to go back over all my pictures to find one. Perhaps an expert can spot this gull in the grouping at the very top of my post, but I suspect there is not enough information in a static shot.
Espanola Island is a small island in the southernmost tip of the Galapagos Archipelago. As one of the oldest islands, it is estimated to be between two and three million years old, and was where we spent our last full day of the trip. In the morning, on the rocky, windswept Punta Suarez side of the island, we were greeted by nesting seabirds, and fortunate enough to see the courtship rituals of Waved Albatross and to some extent the Blue-Footed Boobies, although most of the latter’s nesting seemed to be over.
This was my last opportunity to try and capture a Red-Billed Tropicbird.
I love the blue accents on the rest of this bird.
Below, our last dinner sculpture and the final day’s plan to visit Santa Cruz Island in the morning before our flight back to the mainland.
Magnificent Frigatebirds also call this island home.
Not to be confused with the ever-present Galapagos Sea Lion.
Down by the Chicago River last week, a Ring-Billed Gull enjoys his perch on one of the last remaining rotting pilings. And the only bird in the Boeing garden nearby was what appears to be a Yellow-Bellied Flycatcher below, after checking Crossley’s pictures as a reference, but empidonax flycatchers are hard to nail down unless they say something and this guy was silent.
I’m looking forward to cataract surgery on my right eye tomorrow morning, because that’s the eye I use to focus the damn camera lens with, so I’m hoping for future sharper images!!
Now that I have run out of pictures I feel like I should go back to Nicaragua the next chance I get and take more.
Below, fruiting cashews, the sign at the entrance to Ometepe, and a fascinating petroglyph left by indigenous peoples.
and a Great-Tailed Grackle.
But perhaps no bird left a bigger impression on me than these White-Throated Magpie-Jays.
We finally have spring weather and I have already begun to see migrants, so stay tuned.
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