It eventually took me 5 visits to find this bird, obsesive I know but gulls are a particular favourite of mine, not that I am very expert at identifying them by the way but when there is a rare(ish) North American Gull around then you really ought to try and find it and take some photographs. I have had some fleeting glimpses of it on a couple of my previous trips but never good enough views to get a photograph. When I eventually did see it, perched on Groyne 1 as it happens, I was quite surprised at the similarity with the Black-headed Gulls that were also in the area. Apparently, smaller but not immediately noticeable to me to be honest. When perched, it could easily be told apart by the black beak which in Black-headed Gulls at this time of year is red with a black tip. I decided that my best plan of action this time was to sit on the beach and wait until it put in an appearance. To amuse myself I photographed the Turnstones and an amazingly talented Black-headed Gull that has learned to catch small flatfish in the surf. I took hundreds of shots of the bird doing this and you can view some of these images on this Blog Post here....... But back to the Bonapartes. This is a North American bird that breeds in the far north. It is unique in that it is a tree nesting gull, so obviously not too far north! In the winter they disperse to the Pacific where they spread south feeding out at sea apparently, as well as coastal regions. The bird here in Devon is thought to be the same one that spent the winter here last year. It is not known where it disappeared to in the summer months but it would have flown north and obviously lost, it seems as though it just made it's way back here to Devon for it's second winter. In flight the pattern on the wings is noticeably different.
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