BrianS

Feb 1, 2008 Outing

Feb 1, '08 8:32 PM
for everyone

These were taken at the Martinez, CA marina in late morning.

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17 CommentsChronological Reverse Threaded

sue980 wrote on Feb 2

This looks like a Scaup,well thats what they are called here :-)

sue980 wrote on Feb 2

At last,an american robin,they look nothing like ours and are so much bigger.

pissedoffbrians wrote on Feb 2, edited on Feb 2

The Scaup: I just heard from online friend Bob who a birder and lives in southern California that it's an American Avocet -- it's the first ones I've evere seen.

The Robin: I was surprised to see a few that were redder this year than usual (photos not shown) but this one is typical, and this one is young -- they get much bigger and fatter.

pissedoffbrians wrote on Feb 2

Wait Sue!!! I got confused -- indeed those may be Scaups (the way it came up in my email it looked like you were looking at the American Avocet (the wader with the long bill). http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greater_Scaup Thanks, I'd never seen them before -- apparently this is a group of males according to Wikapedia.

pissedoffbrians wrote on Feb 2, edited on Feb 2

I just discovered that the gull in DCS 8101 is a Great Black-backed Gull, and the one entering the DCS 8547 picture is a Herring Gull (PUT THIS ON HOLD, IT COULD BE A CASPIAN GULL??? (more common in these parts). Many of the gulls I've shot (in other albums) were similar-looking Ring-billed Gulls (also common in these parts).

tenderstorm wrote on Feb 2

Greater Scaups (rare in Southern Cal..but we have lots of Lesser Scaups here). You can tell the difference by the more "roundy" heads that the Greater Scaups have.

tenderstorm wrote on Feb 2

This is a Western Gull. I don't think Black-backs occur this side of the continent. But.. you'll never know....

tenderstorm wrote on Feb 2

Possible Herrings, but most likely California Gull.

Comment deleted at the request of the author.

pissedoffbrians wrote on Feb 2

Thanks Bob. The Scops had glowing red eyes on the water but that doesn't show up in the photos. The Western Gull looked so much like the Black-back in Wikapedia I thought it might be.

I really appreciate your taking a look -- its good to have an expert nearby :)

gkluit wrote on Feb 3

Great photos Brian!

pissedoffbrians wrote on Feb 3

Thanks Gerda. If you read the comments you know now that the black and white ducks are Greater Scaups -- it was news to me -- I'm learning. Sue and Bob are a great help. And yes, the smaller cameras can't quite get these close ups -- that's one reason I went to DSLR (but we had that discussion before). :)