GULLS AND DUCK...

...the 'Duck' being the town of Duck, North Carolina, in the Outer Banks.  

Here are two maps showing its location.

I am continuing our walk along the boardwalk from several posts ago.  At one point there was a small docking area where gulls were resting.  I am always drawn to gulls.

Every time I see one now, I am reminded of a man I met who gave nature talks on gulls.  My whole life I had called them seagulls.  When we were looking at one such 'seagull', he told me that there are no 'seagulls', just gulls.  He seemed to know what he was talking about so I took him at his word...

and yet everywhere I go on the internet, they are known as 'Seagulls", even by Ogden Nash in one of his short poems.

The Sea-Gull
by Ogden Nash

Hark to the whimper of the sea-gull;
He weeps because he is not an ea-gull.
Suppose you were, you silly sea-gull.
Could you explain it to your she-gull?

I know they are not the most popular bird with some, but I have always loved them.  My experiences have never been as some I have heard, and I have read some real horror stories out there.  However, my whole life I remember them fondly,  so I suppose this is why I enjoy them on the rare occasion we are in each other's company.

"Seagulls...slim yachts of the element."
~Robinson Jeffers~ 

And here are some facts I found.

There are approximately 50 species of gulls found throughout the world.

Their lifespan depends on the species.  Most gulls have a lifespan from 10 to 15 years in the wild.

Gulls live in colonies that consist of few pairs of birds, or a couple of thousand birds.

Gulls are monogamous that mate for life.

They are devoted to their chicks and co-parent.

Most gulls breed once a year and have predictable breeding seasons lasting for three to five months.

Nest building is also part of the pair-bonding.  Most species of gull build their nests on the ground, while other species build their nests on elevated areas, such as cliffs or trees.

The clutch size is generally three eggs.

Both male and female take turns incubating eggs, with incubation lasting 26 days.

Young chicks are brooded by their parents for about one or two weeks, and often at least one parent remains with them until they fledge, to guard them.

Both parents feed the chicks, although early on in the rearing period, the male does most of the feeding and the female most of the brooding and guarding.

They can drink fresh water or salt water, though they prefer fresh.

That being said, being marine birds, gulls are often far from sources of fresh water.  Because of this they have special bill adaptations that allow them to filter the salt out of the water and make it drinkable.

Case in point, many of the world's species of gulls are the type we see all the time and display normal behavior, but there are also many who have evolved to suit their environs.  The lava gull for instance has adapted to volcanic islands and is black from bill to wingtip.  The swallow-tailed gull, native to the Galapagos Islands, is actually nocturnal, and specializes in hunting squid, swooping down in the moonlight to capture its prey.

Seagulls have existed on the earth for at least 30 to 33 million years.

In many cultures, seagulls are symbolic of freedom, versatility and a carefree lifestyle.

All gulls belong to the Laridae bird family, along with terns, kittiwakes, skimmers and noddies.  Noddies?  Click here to find out what those are.

And bingo!  This next bit refers to what I mentioned at the beginning of my post.  Despite the universal use of the general term "seagull" these birds are not associated just with pelagic, marine or coastal environments, and in fact there are no birds officially named seagulls.

At least one species is found on every continent, including Antarctica, and many gulls have widespread ranges that make them familiar to birders from vastly different regions.  This makes gulls one of the most widespread families of birds in the world.

A flock of gulls is called a colony, squabble, flotilla or scavenging.

Gulls are opportunistic feeders and yes, they will swoop down and steal a bag of fish and chips right out of your hands, and anything else they can get a hold of in the way of food.  I've never actually experienced this but have seen on several occasions people voluntarily feeding them for the fun of it, to watch them descending by the dozens.  When we were little and on holiday in a caravan (camping trailer to us over here), my father would open the small window in the roof and feed the gulls stale bread, and we delighted in feeling them peck our fingers as a whole flock grabbed all the bread they could before it ran out. Amazingly they never drew blood, and whether this was due to fast reflexes I don't remember.  I might add that I learned long ago now, that to feed any wildlife human food is most definitely not what we should do, however tempting.  It can be harmful to them, and to us, for so many reasons.

As far as gulls go, the California gull is quite smart.  Unlike many gulls, this species favors inland environments for nesting, and often migrate through farmland.  In these environments, insects are a preferred diet of choice.  Which leads to the following.

The California gull (Larus californicus) is the State Bird of Utah.  Not only is this the only gull to be an officially designated state bird, but it is also the only bird to be a symbolic icon for one state even though it is named after another state.  The reason is that in 1848 a great crop of gulls once saved the people of Utah by eating up hordes of crickets that were destroying the crops.  All day long they ate the crickets, and kept eating until these insects were gone, and then they returned to the lake islands from where they originated.  And the people of Utah were saved.  What a wonderful way to become a State Bird.

The Seagull Monument on Temple Square in Salt Lake City honors the gull.  Two sculptured gulls stand atop the monument which was unveiled in 1913.  Mahonri MacKintosh Young sculpted the monument.

The size of a gull varies widely.  The little gull (Hydrocoloeus minutus) is the smallest at just 11-12 inches long, a wingspan of 24 inches, and weighing just 3-4 ounces.  The Great black-backed gull (Larus marinus) is the largest gull at 28-30 inches long, with a 60-inch wing span and a weight of 3-4 pounds.

The smallest gull species in most of North America is a small bird with a black head, white body and red bill and legs.  It is called the Bonaparte's gull, named after Charles Lucien Bonaparte, the illegitimate cousin of Napoleon Bonaparte.  I have no idea how that came about but this History site tells us how many family members of Napoleon ended up in America.  And isn't it interesting how research on Gulls can send you in so many different directions?  Well, learning is fun, and I have had fun doing this post.

I bounced all over the internet last night, from one website to another.  Unfortunately I wasn't very careful taking note of their addresses, even though I was fascinated with all these facts I was reading.  I was up late and though my fingers were moving fast, my brain wasn't quite on the same pace.  That's the way I roll on a sleepless night at three in the morning.  I got caught up in the enjoyment of finding all about one of my favorite critters, and I didn't realize how late it.  I am having an early night!

So, I hope you've enjoyed all these interesting facts, and my apologies if it is a bit too long.  I wanted to get everything on record so that I could go back whenever I wanted, to re-read and maybe do more research while remembering to make a note of where I got my information from.  From childhood I have always had a curious mind on just about everything.

FENCES AROUND THE WORLD FOR GOSIA

A few weeks ago we took a walk along the Boardwalk in Duck, North Carolina. We walked by a lot of shops and as there were fences in many of them, I am linking with Gosia’s Fences Around the World. 

I found an article here with a few more photos.

 Our little opportunists were flying from table to table to see if there were any crumbs about.  

I seem to be all over the place with my posts lately, but I will have more of the boardwalk sometime.  It was a really neat place for a walk.

If you would like to see other fences, or join in with your own, you can go here. Thank you for hosting Gosia!  

I take Saturday's and Sunday's off from blogging now, and will be back on Monday.  Have a great weekend!

NEABSCO REGIONAL PARK - WE FOUND A NEW PLACE TO WALK

We had heard about Neabsco Regional Park in Woodbridge a few weeks ago. It is another place we found not too far from home, a 40 to 45-minute car ride.  I had read about it in one of my online magazines.  Last Sunday we decided that this would be a fun place to take a walk.  You can also read an article in the Prince William Times if you click on this link.

The park is practically brand new, having only been open since June 1st of this year.  It is a work in progress but a wonderful place for a walk, and includes the Julie J. Ketz Wetlands, the Rippon Lodge historic property and the Rippon Landing Neighborhood Park. The boardwalk itself is three-quarters of a mile long, ten feet wide and is elevated well above the marsh.  There is also a two-story observation deck.I noticed something hovering as soon as I stepped on the boardwalk.  My first thought was that it must have been a bird.  It was way up here and hard to make out.  After looking for a few minutes I realized it was a drone.  This was the first I had actually seen.  I recognized it thanks to looking at them on sale in the camera section of several shops, and all the advertising they get elsewhere.  Other people were in the area but none seemed to be holding a remote control device, or even interested in what was above them.  So the owner was a mystery and it left me wondering what range they have.

At the beginning of the boardwalk I looked to my left down a waterway, and could see several Egrets and at least one Great Blue Heron.  Too far for a decent photo but it was fun to look for a while.We saw a large flock of Red-wing Blackbirds flying low in the distance, about a hundred of them, recognized by lightning flashes of red on the wing.  I have never seen so many of these birds in one place.  A safe haven for them obviously, and I didn't even attempt a photo as I knew they would be too far away.  Tiny specks if they showed up in frame at all, but still fun to see that many tiny specks swarm across the wetlands and disappear into the rushes.

We were impressed with how well made the boardwalk was.  Gregg inspected it pretty thoroughly, right down to the rail where it had been smoothed and rounded off.

We passed other people, and noticed that dogs were allowed also.  Not sure how long this will last, wondering about the well-being of surrounding wildlife, but it was nice to see them.  Dogs aren't allowed onto the boardwalk at Huntley Meadows, but there would be a safety issue as the boardwalk there is much narrower, and also there are no safety railings (well I almost got that cute dog in full frame).   

As this place is brand new, and there are those safety issues taken care of that I mentioned, and if the owner's are responsible, it would be nice to see a dog or two.  But then I am a dog person. I could see no rules posted but may have missed them.  We are also in another county, so perhaps things are done differently here.  We'll have to see as time goes on.

The boardwalk connects to the area's tidal wetlands and wildlife habitats such as fox, deer, muskrat, beaver, herons, egrets, ospreys, eagles, hawks, snakes, as well as fish and other birds, like those Red-wing blackbirds that we saw.  Also critters like the one in the photo below.  I spotted it when I looked over that nice, smooth rail. I thought perhaps a Handsome Meadow Katydid and the closest to its ID was here.  What confused me was the touch of red on its head, back and legs.  I haven't seen one like it before.  Any help with a correct identification would be appreciated.

There were also lots of butterflies and some actually stayed long enough for a photo.

A female Eastern Tiger Swallowtail and the pink flowering plant they are enjoying is Swamp Milkweed.

Gregg took this photo of a Great Blue Skimmer.

Other wildflowers seen, plenty of these Green-headed Coneflowers, with the added bonus of a tiny Skipper on the left-hand side of my photo.  Thanks to blogging and reading my plant books, I know quite a few but I sometimes forget what I have learned and need a refresher.  I am getting a lot of help with identifying plants thanks to a new app called Picture This - Plant Identifier.  My next step is to compare what they tell me on Google, and I also go back to my nature books.

The following photo shows a purple plant that is called New York Ironweed (also called Tall Ironweed).  It has lots of medicinal uses, and for centuries it was used to treat many health issues by the Native Americans, particularly the Cherokee.  They brewed teas from the leaves.  The roots from the plant were often used to treat mouth and stomach related problems.  You can read a lot more information if you go to this link.  I know many plants were used for medicinal purposes, but am no authority on such things.  Interesting to read about though.

This lovely blooming plant is called the Swamp Rose Mallow (Hibiscus moscheutos).  I also found four of my favorite things on one blog (yes I know I have a lot of favorites), a Great Blue Heron, Swamp Mallow and the Handsome Meadow Katydid.  They are outstanding photographs, all taken at one of those favorite places, Huntley Meadows, by its host Michael Q. Powell.  Love checking things out online and fun to discover new blogs.  The Swamp Mallow has an interesting seed pod.

Behind me in the distance you can just make out the boardwalk where we were a few minutes before.  It was hot and humid so I had to wear my sunhat.  I was very glad I had carried a flask of water for us in my backpack.

We looped around and made our way back to the car.

 It was a fun walk and well worth the visit.

We are both looking forward to going again sometime.

A collage of photos shown below.  Not all of my family and friends read my blog, so I make these to include in an e-mail, or print out for snail mail as we lovingly call it these days.