This is a way more exciting photo to me than most (all) of you. It is not particularly good, as like many of these it was taken from a moving and pitching boat from a distance. No, the reason I like it shows a new bird that I did not know I had until it emerged once I got home and saw this shot. Three of these are Bonaparte Gulls. I was told, correctly, that most of them had left by the time I was here, They mate and nest in April and May to June leaving for deep water well off shore by late August and the glossy black head feathers begin to fade to black patches as early as July. But here are three of them still in the sound in very early September. You can see some of the black at the base of the necks. I’m sure these were feeding before their long trip and I just happened to catch them while I was shooting a flotilla of birds against some rocks. Serendipity.
