Unlike yesterday, today’s trip to Mission Bay’s Fiesta Island yielded very little wildlife. I set out earlier to see if more terns would be fishing in the area before sunset. My first stop was just outside the tern nesting ground where I saw a gull I did not recognize. Lately I have paid closer attention to gulls in general due to my discovery that there are in fact various species that exist here in San Diego.
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cs7323.JPG;Western gull, 2nd year
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The gull, with a white head, speckled gray body, black eyes and a black-marked beak appeared unlike the usual western gull, which usually is recognized with a red coloring on the beak. Further reference in the book shows that it is actually a western gull immature in its second year. Birding is getting complicated, now with the need to distinguish plumages for different genders and stages of immaturity.
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After the gull flew away, I watched for terns. I did see a few Forster’s terns but only one flew close to me and it had no fish with it. Unfortunately, the fast moving cloud-cover blanketed away the sunshine and I was unable to stay longer to watch for any least terns.