Saturday, August 27, 2011

Birds of Revere Beach

1. Herring gull-kab Herring Gull 8-19-11 Revere Beach

It’s been a very busy summer around here and my husband has every other Friday off. Usually we are heading out of town to somewhere, but on august 19th we decided to take a break and stay home. Or, at least stay in the state of Massachusetts. since moving here last year Gus has wanted to take me for a walk on Revere Beach. We went once in the winter, now it was time for a summertime stroll. So, we packed up the car and headed out.

2. Sand castles-kabI expected the beach to be crowded on this perfect beach day but to my utter surprise, it was not. We parked near the south end of the beach near Elliot Circle and walked northward along the sidewalk to the Pink Apartments. I was surprised to discover that these apartments have their own designation on eBird as a Birding Hotspot! Though we did see a few other species of birds, mostly we saw gulls. Over 200 of them. Other than pigeons, starlings and house sparrows, these are most of the birds we saw.

 

3. GBBG-kab Great black-backed Gull 8-19-11 Revere Beach

 

3. Semi-plover-kab Semipalmated Plover 8-19-11 Revere Beach

 

4. sanderlings-kab Sanderlings 8-19-11 Revere Beach

 

5. bonaparte's gull-kab Bonaparte's Gull 8-19-11 Revere Beach

 

6. immature GBBG-kab Immature Great Black-backed Gull 8-19-11

 

7. Ring-billed gull-kab Ring-billed Gull 8-19-11 Revere Beach

Most gulls take anywhere from 3 to 5 years to reach their adult plumage. In-between it can be quite tricky to decide which species of bird you are seeing. I am still learning my gulls but I think I got all of these right. When trying to identify gulls, one has to look at the size and shape of the bird, the size, shape and color of the beak, the eye color, the leg color, the head color and the mantle, or back of the bird. Then, there is the color of the wingtips and many other subtleties I have yet to learn. Still, I enjoy the challenge when its not frustrating me and you never know what might show up, like the rare Gray-hooded Gull seen recently on the beach at Coney Island, NY!

It is about 1.25 miles from the south end to the Pink Apartments so we figured we walked 2 1/2 miles on this day. All in all Gus and I had a fun walk on the beach with plenty of time left over to come home and relax!

Revere Beach is also known to have nesting pairs of Piping Plovers and while I looked for them, I did not find any. There is a very interesting article about Piping Plovers and conservation written for the Boston Globe Magazine a couple of weeks ago. You can read the article here:

The Curious Case of the Piping Plover

8 comments:

  1. what a great day that must have been and beautiful photos!

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  2. Thank you for taking us along on your beach excursion. So many pretty photographs! Love the Semipalmated Plover and the Bonaparte's Gull. Looks like a you spent a lovely day along the coast. Thanks for sharing!

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  3. Hi Katie...Great collection of shots of the Gulls and the Plover...which is my favorite!!
    Nothing like a walk on the beach..so relaxing..and nice when it is not crowded : }

    Hope your safe from the storm...
    Grace

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  4. Just last year I shared a lobster roll from Kelly's with a herring gull. I had intended to eat the whole thing myself. You don't argue with critters on Revere Beach.

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  5. Kathie, hope you will all be safe in the big storm as it comes your way!

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  6. simply beautifully captured shots...lovely birds!

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  7. wow...such beautiful bird shots!!
    that semipalmated plover is beautiful with the red banded beak...i've never seen one of those!!

    >>>hope you're staying safe....

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  8. Hi Kathie

    It looks like a lovely beach and you got some great photos.

    Regards
    Guy

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Welcome to my nest! I hope you will enjoy spending time here with me and the birds. Thank you for your comments. I will try to get back to you as soon as I get back from counting more birds.