Originally I had plans to take a little walk around on Saturday but a volleyball tournament and some rain got in the way. So I saved my birding for Sunday. I headed down to Long Beach in Stratford to see who was around. There were several species of gull but I realized that gull identification is something I need a lot of practice at. There were several Herring Gulls and a couple of Ring-billed Gulls. One gull seemed to have a very distinct margin to the mottling on the "hood" that seemed different to me and I've heard rumors of Thayers Gulls being around.... Also, there was one gull that to me had a very distinctive red spot with a black band on the bill in a mature bird. I might need to head back and see if I can see it again because I didn't look to see the skin color of the legs. Anyway, at least one gull was willing to cooperate with being identified.
Other birds of interest were a group of 15 Brant, a Great Egret, Double-crested Cormorants, and some Monk Parakeets. Pretty quiet over all and I didn't really see or hear any sparrow but maybe there isn't enough vegetation for them to hide in.
After that I had a pupkin carving party to go to on a small portion of a resevoir. I didn't have time to really look at things but heard were a TON of birds and I really hope I can go back and spend some more time looking around. A nuthatch was calling from an evergreen tree and sounded a little nasallier than the normal White-breasted... maybe a red-breasted. Three Mallard Ducks were swimming around. White-throated sparrows were chipping and singing from along the brush on the shore and sounded like they may have roosted in some evergreens across the way. Kinglets, Black-capped Chickadees, and Tufted Titmice were also heard. And even on the way out after the party in the dark there were 2 Great-horned Owls calling to each other, one was very near. All together it was great just being outside and having a chance to see some nature.
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