I decided to take the kayak out to get ready for the shorebird season at Rankin Bottoms. Not sure if anyone else was able to get on the Laughing Gull that Rick Knight reported at Austin Springs earlier. I saw a gull way in the distance as I started paddling from Winged Deer around 11:00-11:30, but by the time I rounded the corner hoping to get a better look it was nowhere to be found. Below are links to some photos from my most recent real pelagic trips this spring (just got around to going through all the photos) and a brief blog post about them. Austin Springs, Washington, US-TN Aug 9, 2014 11:00 AM Protocol: Incidental Comments: By kayak. 14 species (+1 other taxa) Canada Goose 25 Great Blue Heron 3 Green Heron 6 Osprey 2 Killdeer 4 gull sp. 1 As I started paddling from Winged Deer Park toward Austin Springs at about 11:00-11:30 I briefly saw a gull in the distance. I thought I would get a better look when I got closer, but I never saw it again. Presumably, this was likely the Laughing Gull reported by Rick Knight earlier in the day. Rock Pigeon (Feral Pigeon) 4 Belted Kingfisher 5 Eastern Kingbird 10 American Crow 2 Cliff Swallow 10 Eastern Bluebird 4 Song Sparrow 1 Red-winged Blackbird 6 American Goldfinch 3 View this checklist online at http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist?subID=S19385901 This report was generated automatically by eBird v3 (http://ebird.org) David Kirschke Johnson City, TN https://www.flickr.com/photos/dkirschke/ Zen Birding Zen Birding I was recently invited to join Alaskan birder Dave Sonneborn, with whom I have a mutual friend in Anchorage, on a series of pelagic trips out of Hatteras, North Car... View on zenandbirding.blogspo... Preview by Yahoo