I made my first ever visit to Riverbend Park Wednesday afternoon and slogged
through the mud until I was even with the island to the east.
Could I have seen a Laughing Gull?
As I was making my way towards the island I saw a bird swimming with the
Herring and Ring-billed Gulls. It looked similar in size and had a
distinct black head and black back with the rest white. Unfortunately, by
the time I got far enough downstream to where the view should be better it
I couldn't find it again. I guess an alternative would be a Franklin's
Gull.
Also, I observed a bird flying away from me (a gull, I thought) into the
sun. The underneath of the tail was all white, but both corners had
distinct reddish-orange spots. Would this have been caused by diffraction
of the sunlight through the feather tips? Weird/neat. Has any one else
ever seen this?
Other than that, I saw 6-8 small ducks (seemingly half the size of the two
Mallards that were near-by). The sun also prevented me from having a good
enough view to identify them, but I'm fairly certain that they were not
Buffleheads. The head seemed to be slightly darker than the rest of the
body. I had almost worked my way into a good viewing spot when a
helicopter decided to buzz the island twice. Immature Bald Eagle, two
Great Blue Herons, Titmice, Red-bellied Woodpecker, Canada Goose.
Cliff Otto
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