First year Iceland (Thayer's) Gull

More snow fell last night and it is still snowing very lightly this morning, 9 October 2018. Shortly before noon, our temperature is -4C (windchill -9C).

Last night, I finally took another look at the photos I took way back in May, on our two-week trip to Point Pelee (Ontario) and Tadoussac (Quebec). I have only edited and posted photos from the first day there and a few from our second morning. I really need to get busy on this huge task and I think I may have to post far too many photos at a time. Will do this later in a day or at night, when most people are probably off Flickr. Many photos are simply "for the record" shots and not of good quality. I will see how long I can keep this up, though, as editing and posting photos does not help with the inflammation in my shoulder rotator cuffs. Nor does holding up a camera and taking photos!! The Nikon P900 is a heavy camera!

On 6 October 2018, I joined a few birding friends for another day out east of the city. The weather was beautiful, and so different from the freezing cold trip that was held about a week earlier. As usual on these birding trips, almost every bird was far, far away.

A bird I was happy to see was a Thayer's Gull - the darker, closest bird. I was thinking that I had never seen one before, or at least not to get a photo. However, I checked my photostream and discovered a photo of a juvenile that I took on 25 March 2018. The Thayer's Gull is now called an Iceland Gull. "The darker-winged “Thayer’s” gull of the west used to be considered a different species; the two were lumped in 2017."

Like many people, I just don't "do" Gulls. A lack of interest in them does seem to be fairly widespread, On this day, however, our leader, Terry Korolyk, who is a Gull expert (along with tremendous knowledge on hybrids and all birds/wildlife), found several huge flocks of various Gulls at different locations, along with other bird species, including a few more Rusty Blackbirds (whose numbers are declining). A delight to see a few distant Swans, a Wilson's Snipe, Greater White-fronted Geese, Yellowlegs and an assortment of other shorebirds and waterfowl.

Thank you, Terry, for yet another enjoyable and interesting trip. Thank you, also, for the ride.