Rare Black-headed Gull (and Seals)

It was finally nice today, after almost a week of crappy, bone-chilling weather. So it was with a much rosier attitude that I received a call from Jeff Lewis this morning about a very rare gull that was hanging out in the movie theater parking lot in Kill Devil Hills. I guess that there were some new movies that came out this weekend. The Black-headed Gull doesn't have a black head in the winter time but the bright red bill and legs give it away pretty easily. Sarah let me use her new camera which was the only way I was able to get a reasonably good picture.

This gull is a regular across the pond in Britain, but on this side of the Atlantic, they stay up near Newfoundland and very very rarely make it all the way down here to North Carolina. He was hanging out with a bunch of other gulls, mostly Ring-bills and Lesser Black-backs. Here is an alright shot of him.

While I was in the parking lot searching around for him, I also got a call about some seals that had hauled themselves out of the water for a brief nap down at Oregon Inlet. Since I was almost there anyway, I decided to head down and see what was up. When I got there, four seals were resting on the sound side of the inlet (I guess the mud was nicer than the beach). They all looked pretty fat and healthy and were relaxing in that banana posture that they do so well. The little guy pictured below hauled out very close to me and I got this shot. I think that they were all Harbor Seals, but I will have to check it out tomorrow. Cheers!