Slow Doings at Wrightsville Beach

During the last couple of days we made an excursion to a favored strip of sand in the charming town of Wrightsville Beach.  And each year I don't see much there.  Oh, there are the occasional Brown Pelicans.  And a Willet or two.  And terns a good bit out, fishing.  I've even seen Rock Doves (a.k.a Pigeons).   As always, the ubiquitous birds are Laughing Gulls.  They are well adapted to beach visitors, patrolling regularly (for handouts or an unguarded lunch) and even stationing themselves as sentries every few dozen yards or so.  I had the fortune of a sentry that is a second year bird.  At this age the plumage is nearly complete except for the grey cap instead of the all-black adult head.  But this bird was assertive and even charged an adult in my seeing.  Still, it was all slow doings.  Better luck next year!

Gull Habits

As is our habit every July, we take a little time to visit Wrightsville Beach where my beloved enjoys the beach (and I do my best to avoid the sun).  One of my strategies for coexisting with these sunbaked strips of silicates is to watch birds.  Brown Pelicans are always interesting -- and plentiful.  Whimbrels are visible from time to time.  But the Big Daddy is always the Laughing Gull.  These characters are endlessly fascinating.  One behavior is that certain large areas have an alpha male who "laughs" hardest and pushes out the lesser boys when good eats are found.  That isn't happenstance.  It seems sentries are posted every fifty to one hundred feet as far as the eye can see and when one gull gets a nibble from the pink slobs (i.e., people) it calls the alarm and gulls are soon everywhere!  It is hilarious how sad-eyed the sentries seem to be.  One almost wonders if this is a behavior that's been refined for the dozens of decades people have spent on the beach.  I think it's just guilt tripping by the people.  I watch. Never feed.  Let others start the fun!

At Last! I'm Back in Business

At long last the CaryBird Cam computer is back on line, and I can talk about birds, rather than bytes.  This one was a devil that involved many iterations of disc scans and repairs.  No fears about data, as those are well backed up.  But the hardware was off limits.  But here we are.  And I am remembering the last two weeks of bird activity.  I can start with early the previous week, when I took my loving and adorable spouse to her beloved beach (Wrightsville, in NC).  Physically, this is a less delightful spot for me, but there are always sea- and shorebirds to watch, and Laughing Gulls are a regular feature there.  But they do lead a hard life.  The one pictured has no left foot!  Lord only knows how that was separated.  Suffice to say this was not the reigning alpha male.  I also watched Brown Pelicans, Willets, and Sanderlings.  They provide marvelous entertainment on a summer day at the beach.  What else happened recently? More tomorrow...