They are there, they are just eating differently.  Your bird feeders and suet feeders during the winter and early spring become their major food supply.  As spring comes, so do the insects, and 95% of terrestrial birds feed their offspring on insects.

Include as many native plants as possible in your yard to provide food for the insects, and then you will be feeding the summer birds too!

In his book Bringing Nature Home, Doug Tallamy ranks the best native plants to grow, based on their ability to support butterflies, moths, and caterpillars.  The plants that feed caterpillars feed the birds! Now is the time to plan on what you will plant in you garden to attract birds this year.

With the 15^th Annual Crane Festival now going on at Port Arkansas, Texas now is the time to think about helping to protect the habitat that these cranes and over a half million ducks and geese depend on along the Platte River in Nebraska.

The Crane Trust preserves critical migratory habitat by purchasing and managing land in and along the central Platte River in Nebraska. The Trust owns and manages more than 10,000 acres of land, and works with private landowner on improving land management practices for cranes and other migratory birds. Without this habitat to rest and refuel on the cranes would not be able to make their long migrations on the route now follow, ultimately causing their numbers to decline. There are only 570 whooping cranes left on earth and 263 left in the last wild, self-sustaining flock. The Crane Trust is considered critical for their survival.

Click here to go the Crane Trust website.

Click here to go to the Crane Trust website

Linda and I went to Conway, Washington on Wednesday, Dec 1st to see the Snow Geese. They return to the area around Mount Vernon, Washington every year to winter. Snow Geese spent the spring and summer in the Arctic Tundra where they breed. Around Thanksgiving every year they and Trumpeter Swans return to the Skagit Valley of Washington State to winter. I have posted some of the photos I took and the video that Linda took.

Snow Geese on Fir Island, Conway Washington

Snow Geese in flite, Fir Island, Skagit Valley

Skagit Valley Snow Geese skattering, Conway, WA

Skattering Snow Geese, Fir Island, Conway, WA

Skagit Valley Snow Geese skattering, Fir Island, Conway, WA

Snow Geese in flight, Fir Island, Conway, WA

Skagit Valley Snow Geese in flight, Fir Island, Conway, WA

One of our summer outings this year was to stay in an RV site right on the beach in Annacortes, WA.  We delighted in watching the gulls have breakfast on the beach just after the tide went out.

It brought home my lack of knowledge about why there are so many different markings.  Does each one have a different classification?  It was clearly time to do some research!

Western Gull photo by Jeff Poklen Copyright 2005

The most important basic keys to identifying gulls are size, shape, and color pattern.  The species you see will depend on where you are, of course, but sorting them by size and location first will leave only one or two common species.

Glaucous Winged Gull phoyo by Rtein Eynsue

In the Pacific Northwest, it’s probably a Western Gull, a Glaucous-winged Gull, or a Herring Gull.  Pictured are mature ones.  The Herring Gull can be found all across North America.

The Atlantic and Gulf coasts are blessed with the Laughing Gull considered a medium size.

GreatBlack-backedGull photo by Steven Wickstrom

The North Atlantic coast has the Great Black-backed Gull and it is the largest.  Also called the California Gull and is common in Utah, their state bird.  Now there is a story for a later blog!

Color pattern is very useful so pay attention to the body parts:

Back color: Pay close attention to the color of the mantle, or back.

Head pattern: Most gulls have white heads although Franklin and Bonaparte’s have a black hood.

Wing pattern: Most gulls have gray wings with dark tips but some have pale wings.

Leg color: Large gulls typically have pink legs and medium gulls usually have yellow legs.  Small gulls can have black or red legs.  The leg coloring can change with age, season and health of the gull.

GreatBlack-backedGull photo by Steven Wickstrom

“What about that smudgy brown and mottled one I saw on the beach?”  you ask.  Ah, yes, now we get to the difficult part of identifying gulls.  Gulls change their coloring seemingly unceasingly as they mature from chicks to adults, which can take up to FOUR YEARS!  Including the color of their legs!   Most color descriptions are based on the breeding season.  Some changes in coloring will occur during non-breeding.  For a novice like myself, male and female markings are about the same.

So, if you know the most common gull along your beach and you are with friends for a stroll, you can confidently exclaim:  “That one is a Glaucous-winged Gull (insert the one most common to your area) and that brownish one over there is an immature one.  And the one over there is a non-breeding one!”

Photo Credits

Western Gull photo by Jeff Poklen click here to see his Seabird Photo site.

Glaucous Winged Gull phoyo by Rtein Eynsue from the blog Birdwatching by Wrwin, click here to see this blog.

Laughing Gull photo from Focus On Nature Tours, click here to see their website.

“The Seagull Who Was Afraid to Fly” is a book by Steven P. Wickstrom. Click here to check out his site to order the book and see the Great Black-back Gull photo and other gull photos and information.

We are visited each winter here in the Pacific Northwest by large flocks of Trumpeter Swans. They winter in the delta of the Skagit River near Mount Vernon, Washington. Here are a few photos I took this year of them.

Ever notice that when you are trying to take photos of ducks, geese or swans you mostly get photos of them moving away from you!