I went to the beach today

[XemaSab]

I saw two possums, a raccoon, two gulls, a pelican, a night heron, a great blue heron, a pigeon, two cormorants, and a grebe.

I also saw a bike seat, a broom, a monkey doll, about 8 shoes, about 10 tennis balls, a fire extinguisher, and a coconut.

Beachcombing. Good times. :)

[Ptah]

1. I grew up on the western prairie.

About 60 miles east of the continental divide.
There were often large flocks of birds that would follow
our tractor-pulled plows.
The seemed to find food in the freshly turned fields.
I was told they were seagulls.
Is that possible?

[XemaSab]

2. It certainly is

The word "seagull" is a bit of a misnomer, because most gulls are coastal and not truly pelagic.

Ring-billed, California, and Franklin's Gulls are North American gulls that breed inland.

Did the birds have black heads? :shrug:

Fun fact: the California Gull is the state bird of Utah. :P

Oh, and further fun fact: XemaSab is short for Xema sabini, or the Sabine's Gull, which is a pelagic gull. The birds in my sig line are Red-Legged Kittiwakes which are also pelagic gulls. The Black-Legged Kittiwake would be the third North American pelagic gull, but it's not represented in my posts. More good times. :)

[Adsos Letter]

3. Yesss...

saved them from that grasshopper plague, or so the story goes...

My wife keeps three bird feeders going all winter long.

:hi:

[Ptah]

14. I don't remember whether they had black heads on not.

Your knowledge supersedes mine.
What does pelagic mean.
Yes, I could do teh google, but I'd rather hear it from you.

If I remember correctly, teh Xemah is near arctic?

northern Canada?

[XemaSab]

15. Xema is a made-up word

that's the genus name of the Sabine's Gull. It's not a place.

Pelagic means ocean-going. There's a technical definition that involves water depth but the working definition used by birders is just typically areas where you start seeing albatross, fulmars, storm petrels, shearwaters, and other real ocean birds. :shrug:

[CaliforniaPeggy]

4. My dear Xema!

And where are the pics?

Sounds like you had a cool day at the beach!

It was sunny and clear here...

I didn't feel like taking any pictures, though...:P

[XemaSab]

5. Any pix I took

would have had the USS Ronald Reagan in them. :crazy:

It's moored offshore. :P

[AlCzervik]

9. was the uss Reagan full of sunny optimism?

[XemaSab]

10. The sailors are on shore leave in Santa Barbara

so yeah, it was. :)

[AlCzervik]

12. did you look cute?

[XemaSab]

13. Not particularly

:P

[Rosemary2205]

6. I sooooooooooo hate you.

I'm absolutely green eyed..........

[XemaSab]

7. Why's that?

:shrug:

[Rosemary2205]

8. Oh boy

sucks when you gotta explain it.............

I'm jealous of you being at the beach...... and I'm stuck inland.

"Green eyed with envy"???

[XemaSab]

11. I see

I was wondering if you were jealour of all the tennis balls I found, or something. :P

[Midlodemocrat]

16. The monkey doll did it for me.

:(

[XemaSab]

19. I picked it up, dusted the sand off, and put it on a kayak

for someone else to find. :P

[Danger Mouse]

17. so, how hot do you look in a bikini, eh?

nudge nudge.

[XemaSab]

18. Aw man

There was a BRILLIANT photoshop a few years ago with me, but it seems to have vanished from teh internets. :(

[Danger Mouse]

20. this thread is useless without pics!!

:P
:hug:

[XemaSab]

21. Teh one smilie is licking teh heads of teh other smilies

:scared:

[Danger Mouse]

23. er yes. i meant to do that.

mUAHAHAHahahaha

[texanwitch]

22. I spent almost a week at the beach after Christmas, wish I was still there.

I love beachcombing, never know what you find.

I went out early every morning with a neighbor.

We always found something interesting.