Today was an amazing day on the lake. The water was green and blue with wind-whipped whitecaps. The sky was full of magnificent, stunning cloud formations all day and the light snow-cover from last night left no doubt that cold winter has arrived. I took photos on and off all day, and about 4 pm, I noticed the gulls. They move in the wind right off the bluff, but today the wind was so strong, they were often nearly motionless as they found the balance between gravity and wind. I could see ID marks more clearly than ever before and am getting better at 1st and 2nd year ring-bills and herrings.

AND THEN, I saw new life bird: an adult great black-backed gull. I was absolutely excited and thrilled and had no one to share this with (another life theme at this point), but exclaimed out loud to myself. It flew back and forth and I saw it several times...a deep dark, nearly black mantle with a narrow white band on the lower wing edges and white tips at the end of its long wings. This bird is uncommon here so I feel gifted.

I also noticed an odd little quirk several times on random gulls in the wind: they would be nearly motionless and would give their legs a little shake and I am just now wondering if they were getting rid of water droplets which could freeze fairly fast in the wind and cold up in the sky.