Gull day

 Starting to look more seasonal....

and due to the rain stopping, finally, and the cooler temperatures...

water levels have dropped to the point that you can see the path to the park starting to reappear.

fields over by Kilby are still flooded.  Today there must have been a thousand Canada Geese flying around and in the fields, along with some waterfowl.

in the field beside the dyke there was a large flock of gulls....these flocks are always fascinating to real devotees as they search for some rarity.  Unfortunately I'm not familiar enough with gulls to know if there was something rare there or not!

Thought this one was interesting, partly the gull in the back that appears to be a darker grey, but also the one right in the middle with a juicy earthworm in it's bill.  I guess that is what they are feeding on.

there were a few of these little guys - used to be called Mew Gulls, now they are called Short-billed Gulls

think the one right in front is a Herring Gull, note the light coloured eye, while the one behind is the commonest species we get, the Glaucous-wing Gull.

off of Kilby beach, noticed a small flock of some sort of diving duck....

turned out to be Scaups, think the pair in the middle are Greater Scaup, not sure about the others, maybe it was a mixed flock of Greater and Lesser

not much in the way of eagles around right now.  Not sure if that is it for the season, or if they will show up again as the water levels drop down.

and just want to add this guy, this was yesterday when I heard tapping overhead in a tree right beside the railway bridge....a male Pileated Woodpecker.

Now....snow is promised for tonight....we shall see if it materializes.