Sunday, April 16, 2017

Bird Survey: Pinellas NWR, Feb 7th



Laughing Gull in winter plumage



The only gull that nests in our state



The largest rookery in Florida is on the southern end of Egmont Key NWR where approximately 33,000 PAIRS nest!



Aptly named Ring-billed Gull



The 2nd most common gull in Florida, a distant 2nd to the Laughing Gull




Red-breasted Mergansers


Females




They breed farther north and winter farther south than any of the other American mergansers




Preening to keep those all-important feathers in good working order








Horned Grebe, another winter visitor



They breed in Canada and Alaska




They regularly eat some of their own feathers, enough that the stomach usually contains a matted plug of feathers.  This plug may function as a filter or may hold fish bones in the stomach until they can be digested.



Monofilament line kills!




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