Day 18.299: Beach birds

As we returned along the beach on Sunday afternoon, we were delighted to run into one of our nature group friends. We had a discussion about the various birds we’d identified and those we had not. Here are some of them.

Red-breasted merganser

Common eiders (behind some active scoters)

Red-throated loon

Red-throated loon

Great black-backed gull (largest gull in the world) with some herring gulls

Herring gull with sea star. We’d never seen a gull with one - more often we see them with clams and crabs. It must have been a significant prize though as another gull was trying to steal it (the resulting kerfuffle is what drew our attention)

Herring full

Canada geese

Buffleheads (with some more scoters)

I was surprised and pleased to be able to identify these very distant birds. This photo was the one that clinched the ID as long-tailed ducks

The biggest (species of) gull in the world 

Hooded merganser