Hannibal the Black-Backed Gull

Jim and I went to Jamaica Bay Wildlife Preserve in Queens yesterday. We went rather late in the afternoon, and weren't sure what to expect, but ended up seeing a lot of birds -- hundreds of them. Nothing really exotic, but interesting and very plentiful. There were flocks of starlings, ducks, terns, swans, gulls, geese, and at least one black-bellied plover, amid some smaller shore birds that I couldn't identify (partially because my binocs weren't up to the task, and partially because I wasn't).

The most exciting view of the day was of a couple of dozen herons/egrets, more than I usually see in one place. They were gathered on the shore and in a nearby tree -- at first, we thought we were looking at several different types, but then when we got home and went through my photos, we saw that we were actually looking at families -- notice on the left that there's a Great White Heron feeding its chick. (You can click on the photo for a larger version.)

The most disturbing view of the day was of a Black-Backed Gull we named Hannibal, for reasons that will become obvious. Jim first noticed a large gull dragging something across the sand; when we looked closer, we saw it was the carcass of another bird. Once Hannibal got its prize down to the water (where presumably it was safe from the competition), it started to feed. You can see Hannibal at the top right of the photo.

At first, we were a bit perturbed -- we knew that gulls ate almost everything, but other birds? When we got home, I checked with the Cornell Lab of Ornithology site and sure enough, gulls -- especially Black-Backed Gulls -- will eat fish, chicks, mammals, and anything else they can get hold of, including other birds.

You learn something new every day....