Dennis, Tweeters.

Funny that you should mention that! I observed the same thing this morning
at the end of Eide Road in Stanwood. There were at least 1000 to 1500
Dunlins, with a few Dowitchers (sp?) and Least Sandpipers, with the
majority resting, but some of them feeding. Three immature Bonaparte's
Gulls were in attendance with the feeding group and their aggressive
behavior briefly put the whole Dunlin flock up in the air a couple of
times. They did settle back quickly though. Now I wonder if these are the
same three "bandidos" that Dennis saw at Hayton? Maybe they are following
the Dunlin flock around? Something for the Dunlin study group on the list
today to look into!
What makes it interesting, is that Bonapartes' Gulls and Common Terns
usually are the victims of jaegers.

Cheers,

Hans Feddern

On Mon, Nov 28, 2011 at 7:37 PM, Dennis Paulson
<dennispaulson at comcast.net>wrote:

> Hello, tweets.
>
> Yesterday morning (11/27), Netta Smith and I watched 3 immature
> Bonaparte's Gulls at the Hayton Preserve, Fir Island, robbing from Dunlins.
> There were many hundreds of Dunlins and a fair number of Black-bellied
> Plovers feeding in the flooded field, and the three gulls perched among
> them or flew around. When one would see a Dunlin pull a large earthworm out
> of the ground, it would immediately give chase and would usually get the
> sandpiper to drop the worm fairly quickly, then gobble it up. This went on
> continuously for the half hour that we sat there watching them. I had never
> seen Bonaparte's in these fields before and never seen them as
> kleptoparasites, but there they were, a very special occasion.
>
> We saw about 40 Eurasian Collared-Doves together in Bow and about 20 in
> Edison. They are taking over the Earth!
> -----
> Dennis Paulson
> 1724 NE 98 St.
> Seattle, WA 98115
> 206-528-1382
> dennispaulson at comcast.net
>
>
>
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>



--
*Hans Feddern*
Twin Lakes/Federal Way, WA
thefedderns at gmail.com
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