Go Outside

     I feel pretty accomplished today, cleaned all the critter enclosures- there are 7 all together if you count the cat's litter box, plus our own enclosure, err, home, donated a ton of clothing and shoes I no longer need, got the grocery shopping done and donated to the local boy scout Thanksgiving food drive, made 5 dinners worth of tomato sauce, and managed to get out to Plumb Beach for a very mild November beach stroll. Today's weather called for getting your butt outside!
     I was maybe hoping with some luck I'd see a Franklin's Gull as reports of sightings flooded in from all over NYS on Friday. No Franklin's for me, but I did enjoy watching the gulls in their various ages as shown by their plumage, squabbling with one another, feasting on their prizes, and just patrolling their patch of beach like a boss.
     The beach was pleasant, even with constant wind I was not cold in my very, very light layering of clothes. Nothing to crazy to repot, just some lovely gulls:

Nope. Only laughing gulls. Franklin's would have more white on the primary feathers and be a tad smaller.

A herring gull, and I'm going to say this individual is a 2nd winter bird.

Some later American Oystercatchers.

This group of 4 stuck together close, I wonder if they are confused by the lingering warm weather we've been experiencing. We still have yet to have a first frost here!

Adult herring gull in it's winter look- a streaky head and neck.

Among the (in comparison) giant gulls, was this teenie tiny little thing. Pretty sure it's a common tern, also kind of late to get a move on toward the South. 

He was able to catch some small fish, in a way that's different than I usually see. Instead of dive-bombing the waters surface, it picked fish up as it swooped down to the water.

Herring gull, 1st winter, me thinks. 

Nope, still not a Franklin's... Laughing Gull.