Food fight: Ring-billed Gull vs Laughing Gull: 12-15-18

Larger Ring-billed Gull had just caught a juicy tidbit and was trying to land on the marker to it it, hopefully undisturbed.  However, it was not to be as an opportunistic (aka “lazy”) Laughing Gull descended on top of the Ring-bill trying to steal its prey.

And off they went on the chase

The smaller Laughing Gull is in hot pursuit.

The Ring-bill is holding tight

The Laughing Gull is squawking loudly and is just a short distance behind the Ring-bill.

Finally the Ring-bill drops the morsel and the Laughing Gull does a 90 degree instantaneous course change to dive after it.

The Laughing Gull actually stalls its flight so it can drop and grab the fishy item the instant it hits the water

The Ring-bill returns to the marker without getting to enjoy its Omega-3 lunch.

Lexiphiles

Ospreys on the monthly bird count: 12-15-18

Male Osprey

Ospreys are unusual among hawks in possessing a reversible outer toe that allows them to grasp fish with two toes in front and two behind.

Barbed pads on the soles of the birds’ feet help them grip slippery fish.

Ospreys are excellent anglers and their diet is almost totally restricted to fish.

Savannah NWR, SC: 12-21-18

Glossy Ibis

Male Ruddy Duck

Black-bellied Whistling-Ducks

Probably Mom, Dad, and their youngsters

Song Sparrow

Northern Mockingbird

Female Bufflehead Ducks

Well-camouflaged Great Blue Heron

Savannah NWR: 12-18-18

Chipping Sparrow

Their loud, trilling songs are one of the most common sounds of spring woodlands and suburbs.

Common Buckeye: This beautiful butterfly is found in all 67 counties in FL

American Crows

White Ibis

My partner, Linds, is always on the lookout

Pied-billed Grebe

Resource partitioning: This spider web is low and parallel to the ground to catch prey near the ground in a vertical plane.  Other spider species that build webs perpendicular to the ground and several feet higher in the trees are after prey flying horizontal to the ground.  That way both spider species can inhabit the same area without necessarily competing for the same prey.

Bird Survey birds: 12-15-18

Little Blue Heron

Walking along the seawall at Eckerd College

Laughing Gull

In winter plumage.  These gulls are the only gull species that breeds in our state.

Horned Grebe, a winter visitor

Red-breasted Mergansers, more winter visitors

They prefer salt water more than the other two species of North American mergansers.

Belted Kingfisher, also a winter visitor

Thankfully the kingfisher didn’t get tangled in the monofilament line and the green float behind it.