Tuesday Jan. 20 2 pm Drakes Creek Marina Sumner countyOn the way home for a dental appointment, I stopped by briefly stopped by and saw the two Cackling Geese in Goodlettsville reported by Mike Smith Sunday. They were absent on my visits the previous two days, when I was able to scan through Canada Geese. Today at 1 pm there were no Canada Geese, just the two Cackling Geese and 3 Ruddy Ducks.
On to Drakes Creek in Sumner county, I pulled in to Mallard Point boat ramp and only found a 2nd cycle Herring among the hordes of Ring-Billed and Bonapartes Gulls. I then went north to the first pullover area and scoped the area there. I found 5 Redhead and 6 Lesser Scaup mixed in with the several Common Goldeneye and Hooded Mergansers. Gulls everywhere, and all I could find odd were a few other Herring Gulls.
On a whim I decided to head to the marina and check their docks. Pulling in to the public viewing area of the island north of Drakes Creek Marina, I scoped the docks and immediately spotted a dark-backed gull among just a few other gulls and three cormorants. Too far for a 400mm photograph, I drove to the marina, parked, and walked the public lakeshore north to a curve where I could see the docks beyond the boat sheds. At first the Lesser-Black Backed Gull was facing me, but after about 2 minutes it turned and started walking along the dock. This is likely the one spotted during the Christmas county on January 1.
I rechecked the other areas as I left, hoping to find a POSSIBLE Thayers Gulls I spotted and photographed on Saturday along with the Greater Black-Backed Gull, but could not find it anywhere.
Attached are 1 photo of the Greater Black-Backed Gull with Herring and Ring-Billed (from Saturday) for size comparison, 1 of it flying, 1 of the Lesser Black-Backed from today, and two of the possible Thayers from Saturday. This gull is obviously smaller then the Herring Gulls flanking it, shaped somewhat different, and from scope viewing for several minutes had a dark bill, darker pink feet than the two Herring Gulls nearby, and once when it stretched there was no color difference between the primaries, secondaries, or the rest of the wing. I was not able to photograph the wing stretch, and I did not see it fly as I was primarlly occupied by the Greater Black-Backed Gull at the time.
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Gull, Greater Black-Backed, Herring, Ring-Billed on log tn.JPG
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Gull, Greater Black-Backed tn flying.JPG
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Gull, Lesser Black-Backed tn side.JPG
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Gull, Thayers side right tn.JPG
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Gull, Thayers left side tn.JPG
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