Gulls in Gray and White – at Coulon Park

Posted on January 17, 2023 by

19 Comments

For this week’s Sunday Stills Challenge, I thought of ‘seagulls’ and went to look for them yesterday at Coulon Park. It’s one of their favorite places – mine too – and it was a beautiful day for a walk.

They were out in great numbers – congregating on log booms –

or perching alone, like this one, on top of the Lifeguard station.

I believe they’re Herring Gulls or Western Gulls though it’s their secret and they’re not talking.

According to The Wildlife Trusts website

“Gulls are members of a large, widespread family of seabirds. Often known as seagulls (though no species is actually called a seagull, and many are found far from the sea), they sometimes get a bad reputation for stealing chips. But gulls are intelligent, adaptable and often beautiful birds. 

However, they’re notoriously difficult to identify. Entire books have been dedicated to telling one gull from another, but even these barely scratch the surface. Their plumage changes as they age and there’s a great deal of variation within species.”

This handsome boy seemed like a different species altogether though he’s likely just a youngster.

I watched him a while and he seemed to watch me back, happy I’d taken note of him.

Regardless of the species I love to watch them fly, a bit envious of a superpower they take for granted.

And that will do for Gulls.

~ Susanne

Category: BirdsTags: , , , , , , ,

19 Comments on “Gulls in Gray and White – at Coulon Park”

  1. Lovely photos, Susanne! I would love to fly like this, it reminds me of reading that old book called Johnathan Livingston Seagull years ago. ❤️

  2. I read the book in high school–it was quite the lovely, ethereal, 70s woo-woo literature, but very lyrical and entertaining. Gosh, I love your gorgeous gulls, Susanne! The juvenile is adorable and quite the character. So interesting about the various species. I read that 1/4 of California gulls nest at Mono Lake. In the 70s (again), their nesting areas were threatened because LA Water and Power diverted water from the tributaries leading into the lake, which ultimately dropped the level and exposed land bridges to the two lake islands where the gulls nested. It was a big deal and groups eventually got the water, lake and surrounding areas to become a National Monument.

    • Thanks, Terri! 🙂 I remember when Jonathan Seagull was all the rage. I didn’t get it at the time, but I might enjoy it more now! 🙂
      I wasn’t sure about the smaller gull, so I asked my FB birder group, and the answer came back: ring-billed gull. I think that’s correct.
      And I’m glad Mono Lake is being protected. We went by there on a couple trips to California and found it so unique and beautiful.

  3. My husband acts like seagulls are flying vermin, but I think they are beautiful birds. Since we are inland here, they don’t have any sea-games to play, but they do a good job tidying up the parking lots and eating whatever gets left behind!

  4. Very nice, Susanne. Love the flying photos. Gulls aren”t regulars here. We just get a few that have been blown over or got a ride on a ship.

  5. You got some lovely photos of gulls indeed. It is too cold here at the moment for ‘pleasure walking’ and taking photos. I just take Ollie out for his 90-minute walk, then scurry back inside to warm up!
    Best wishes, Pete,.

Categories
Follow Cats and Trails and Garden Tales on WordPress.com

Enter your email address to follow this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email.

Join 1,591 other subscribers
Posts by Month
%d bloggers like this: