Rain, a chilly 41
degrees, calm winds
We had to be on the eastern
side of the Hudson today as Sharon had a check-up and we had a few more things
to hunt for re Christmas presents.
As the day wore on and the skies darkened even more, we headed over to
the Beacon waterfront in yet another, our third, attempt to capture images of the Iceland
gull.
Well, three was definitely not
the charm today. Once again, we
had a big number of gulls, but other than one Great black-backed and several
Herring gulls, all we could conjure up were the Ring-billed variety. The Iceland we were looking for is
often called a “white-winged” gull since the black primaries found on the
Ring-bills are absent in the sought after species.
When at rest, the wings
are folded back and the wing-tips extend back beyond the tail, making it appear
as if the gull actually has black tail feathers.
When the Ring-bill raises its
wings, however, the tail is seen to be pure white and the black wing tips are
plain to see.
In any regard, after
close to an hour at Beacon with no success finding the Ivory, we drove back
across the Hudson to Newburgh for one last chance in the quickly fading light. We are only 4 days away from the
longest night of the year and daylight is at a premium as we approach 4:30
PM. Still, maybe, just maybe, we
could find the white-wing sitting on the pier or out on the water. With enough light to just see the
features of the gulls, the binoculars could find only the omnipresent
Ring-bills. And so it goes. Three outings for this gull and three
strikes.
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