A beautiful day! Bright sunshine and little wind. After breakfast we packed some lunch and set off once again for Aberavon Beach. The Ross's Gull had performed well on Saturday so we were very hopeful. We arrived just after 10am to be told it had been seen just before 9am but had flown off. It is bound to return like it did yesterday was the advice. We decided to sit it out. We saw a Little Gull, 3 Mediterranean Gulls, c20 Turnstone, 6 Oystercatchers and 15 Lapwing. I met lots of birders I had not seen for a while and lots of inquisitive locals who wondered what several dozen people with optics were doing. They seemed very interested in their rare visitor.
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| Adult Mediterranean Gull photographed last year |
By 3pm exhilarated by the sunshine but tired of waiting around I finally gave up and left. I have not heard of it being seen since that time. Now I have a big decision. Shall I get up really early and hope that little bird is hanging around that beach before 9am again? Maybe third time lucky. Maybe not. By the way 3 Lesser Redpolls on my feeders early in the morning in my garden.
I wish you well. I also wish I could give to some good advice. My Ivory Gull attempt was so pathetic that I still have a hard time believing how bad my luck was that day. I went to Plum Island, a place you know well, with my friend Wayne Petersen to see that bird. Wayne picked me up, but about thirty minutes late, and off we went.
ReplyDeleteAs we approached a group of folks we knew, they waved us on as they were all looking at the bird in their scopes. A woman said, "Its in here" as she pointed at her Nikon. I looked in and there was nothing. "You must have bumped the scope" she said and threw up her bins to give me directions to get back on the bird. It was never seen again. No one saw it fly off as they were greeting Wayne and were all resting their eyes.
You will see the gull if you go a third time. Its a charm.