New Year’s Day Gulls in Delaware

New Year’s Day was remarkably mild on the Delaware shore, despite the recent snow. A real thaw had set in, with chunks of ice floating down the Indian River and out to sea at the Indian River Inlet. So despite the mild weather, this Glaucous Gull Larus hyperboreus looked at home, floating just offshore amongst the mini-icebergs! It appears to be a first cycle bird, judging by the lack of any gray in the mantle and the dark eye, but it remained far enough away for me to be absolutely certain about those points. I always enjoy seeing these big frosty giants from the Frozen North! Despite its distance, its size and whiteness made it easy to pick out with the naked eye from the south jetty. Here’s another shot of it with a Great Black-backed Gull Larus marinus, illustrating the similarity in size between these two large gull species:

Other highlights at the Indian River Inlet included a good selection of sea ducks, with many Long-tailed Ducks Clangula hyemalis and all three species of scoter. I was especially pleased to see good numbers of White-winged Scoters Melanitta fusca which, on this occasion, was the second most abundant scoter species after Surf Scoter M. perspicillata.  Here’s an image of a group of White-winged, with a single Surf mixed in, taken from the jetty on the south side of the inlet:

After leaving the Inlet we headed north, checking various spots around Prime Hook National Wildlife Refuge. We ended the day with two adult Lesser Black-backed Gulls on the ice along Prime Hook Beach Road. Here’s a photo of one of them – the other was too far away to make a photo worthwhile:

 

Nice way to start 2011. Happy New Year everyone.

King Rail on New Year’s Eve

We headed to the Atlantic coast of Maryland and Delaware for a quiet New Year. On New Year’s Eve, we visited the Ocean City Inlet and points south. One of my favorite locations is Truitt’s Landing, on Sinepuxent Bay south of Snow Hill, MD. First, we found a small group of Rusty Blackbirds (above) in the moist woods bordering the marsh. Then, patience in the mostly frozen marsh itself paid off with decent views of a King Rail:

A poor photo, but note the lack of gray on the ear coverts and the strongly marked mantle and back, distinguishing it from Virginia Rail and Clapper Rail, respectively. For comparison, here’s an image of a Virginia Rail from the same location earlier this year:

Though we didn’t see two together, I’m pretty sure we heard two calling quietly to each other. Doubtless the lack of open water worked to our advantage, forcing these otherwise secretive birds into the open in the few places where holes in the ice persisted.