Avian Explorer » plover

Bonaparte’s Gull

Elizabeth — Sun, 08 Aug 2010 17:25:20 +0000

For many gulls, it’s difficult to discern between the subtle variations of eye color, leg color and wing patterns to make an identification. Bonaparte’s Gulls, on the other hand, can be identified on sight.

The Bonaparte’s Gull is on top and the Kildeer is on the bottom for size comparison. During breeding, the Bonaparte’s Gull has a black head with white stripes on the top and bottom of their eyes. These gulls have already started to change into their winter plumage, which is a white head with black smudges near their ear hole. Below is a picture of a Bonaparte’s Gull in transition taken July 24, 2010.

Bonaparte’s Gulls eat small fish, tadpoles and insects. They enjoy eating from the Great Salt Lake during the summer because of the brine flies. These next pictures are insane. There were so many flies that the gulls didn’t even have to make an effort to eat. They simply opened their beaks and the flies swarmed inside.

These pictures also give you a good idea of how the same species can molt at different times.

I hope those flies are delicious.

When you’ve had enough fly appetizers, there are tadpoles for the main course.

This isn’t a Bonaparte’s Gull, but it’s amazing how many flies are covering the gull.

I’m so glad these flies don’t bite people.

Killdeer

Elizabeth — Sun, 21 Mar 2010 01:46:09 +0000

Last week I bought a new camera base that is better adapted to catching birds in flight. So now Jon is using my old base.

As a result, I can post double the pictures! Check out my very serious 500 mm lens.

Farmington Bay has become very busy with bird activities. The Killdeers have started breeding in the gravel. We found three that decided that the parking lot is a perfect place for breeding.

They really have marvelous coloring for blending with the gravel. It is exhausting work have watch over those nests and staring at all the humans trying to use their cars.

If a predator comes near a Killdeer nest, the Killdeer parent acts like it’s hurt to lure the predator away from the nest. This is called decoy behavior and you can see a video of it here.

The Killdeer is a type of plover and, like other plovers, the Killdeer finds food in the marshes.

There were so many of them in the water!

I love their red eyes.

Their rumps are the same color as their eyes, which was startling to see when I saw one bend over. You can almost make out the color on the tips of his tail feathers.

“Killdeer” refers to a noise they make, which sounds like “kill – dee.” I leave you with this beautiful close-up of a Killdeer at the Monterey Bay Aquarium that I took last July.

Black-Bellied Plover

Elizabeth — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 03:13:00 +0000

The ocean is filled with food for many kinds of birds.

The most dedicated birders will get up before dawn to see birds feeding at low tide. I still value sleep more than birding. But I lucked out yesterday, because the birds were feeding at the more reasonable time of 1 PM. I got to see a Black-Bellied Plover.

These guys have a very diverse diet. Although they eat the typical crustaceans and mollusks, they also eat insects and berries.

I saw only one Black-Bellied Plover yesterday, but he let me take many pictures. He was very cautious, looking up every few seconds. But he never retreated, and let me get within four feet.

How is this for camouflage?

The Black-Bellied Plovers are different from the American Golden-Plovers, which don’t have any golden color in their non-breeding plumage. Further, the Pacific Golden-Plovers has what looks like flecks of gold.

This was my favorite picture because his posture reminds me of a ballet dancer.

The plover is a medium-sized bird. Here in the background, you can see a sandpiper, which is a much smaller bird, perhaps about the size of your palm.

It’s hard to imagine, but the Black-Bellied Plover’s breeding plumage is all black in front. The pictures below were taken last August. They’re most likely Black-Bellied Plovers in an intermediate stage between breeding and winter plumage, but they could be American Golden-Plovers. It’s incredibly hard to tell the type of plover because the standard markers are obscured. The picture is close enough to give you an idea of the stark contrast between breeding and non-breeding plumage, though, especially for the plover on the left.

Western Sandpiper

Elizabeth — Sun, 23 Aug 2009 01:53:00 +0000

Pescadero, CA is my new favorite place. They have a beach, marshes, and Butano State Park. Today was an exceptionally good day for birding. I saw several new types of birds and several well-known birds that are experiencing a molt in anticipation of their winter plumage.

The most exciting discovery of today was seeing Western Sandpipers and Semipalmated Plovers. I’ll discuss the plovers in a later post.

Western Sandpipers travel in large flocks.

Here is a close-up of two. Aren’t they beautiful?

I really like the lighter brown feathers on their wings. They look distinct in the above picture, but against other backgrounds, the brown helps them blend completely.

Below is a comparison of the sandpipers with a Heermann’s Gull for size. They’re very small birds.

Western Sandpipers eat aquatic insects, worms, small mollusks, and crustaceans from shallow water. The sandpipers to the left of the gull above are searching for food.

I was photographing the sandpipers in some shallow water when I discovered a huge group of them napping and preening. I almost walked into them, they were so well hidden. You see the brown section at the bottom of the photograph? Those are birds!

When you are close to them, you can hear the cheep noises that they constantly make.

Below is an even better picture. You can really see how they blend here.

I saw them in other sections of the beach and when they were not eating, they always chose to be near debris that served as camouflage.

I’ve been tracking my life list of birds on Birdpost and today’s discoveries put me up to 82.