Diane, I hate to tell you, but birding is an incurable obsession.You are hooked for life! Fortunately, it is a healthy, educational, and rewarding pastime. Immature grackles have quite a bit of brown and are seen this time of year. That is my best guess. Linda Warfield ----- Original Message ----- From: Diane Bumpass To: va-richmond-general@xxxxxxxxxxxxx Sent: Monday, September 19, 2005 5:57 PM Subject: [va-richmond-general] Birding in Nags Head I took my first trip to the beach since taking up birding. I saw the following birds, none of which appear to be other than the usual suspects. Gulls, pelicans and sanderlings were out in abundance with pelicans flying just above the water in small groups all throughout the day. It was a quick trip, so I had no time to go over to the sound side. These were what I could see in the company of my seashell seaking -- surf walking friends who were all quite patient with my new obsession. brown pelican sanderling willet ruddy turnstone great black backed gull ring billed gull laughing gull mourning dove blackbird If any of these seem unlikely to you for this area, let me know. They were the best matches to my book. I saw other gulls, but these three seemed to fit the descriptions I had. Some of the blackbirds I saw had dark brown breasts, but were black everywhere else. Any guesses on which species I might have seen? Diane Bumpass