What a terrific day at the cove. Although there were no others around, the sun, the wind, the temperature, the birds, the quiet all made it a wonderful afternoon. Hope others were able to get out today as well. I left around 2 after over an hour lounging on the beach. Dick is right, the water is chilly. Birds I saw were another white pelican, some terns, a couple of hawks and probably a turkey vulture. Canada geese in formation came by as well.
Oh well, I look forward to more warm days and next year.
Martin - glad you got to the Cove and made mention of the birds - we're officially "birders" this time of year - now that we're not longer officially anglers.
You called those white winged birds terns - I called them gulls. I can't defend my choice of words since I don't really know a tern from a gull. I wasn't sure we had both or either but looked via Google and found that both do appear here in Missoui - and maybe both are present at Smithville.
I had little reason to speculate that I was seeing gulls - sounds like you know your birds better than most of us - what distinguishes a tern from a gull in flight?
It was kind of fun yesterday - you'd not notice them overhead and not hear anything but once you saw one bird you could focus better then i'd see lots of birds - no formation and not much pattern to their flying but looking overhead usually 6 or 8 were in view. White, hard to judge size when in the air - a curved inward sweep line to the back of each wing - not straight across like an aircraft wing. More like a swallow but white and larger. Gulls or terns - terns or gulls? I'll try to take the binoculars next time - it really is a year round site - even afer the swimming and sunning is over with it's a nice bit of shoreline to visit.
Dick, I think you are correct about the gulls. The generally white body and black tips on their wings looks more like a gull than a tern, which also can have black tips, but not as pronounced. As for the white pelicans, I have a pretty good picture of them flying and their bill and wings are distinct.
I just enjoy looking at the birds and by no means "know" them well. But it sure is fun.