Any naturalists here?

Today in Western NY I saw a gull out on the ice, about 150' away. It had a large dark object that didn't look like a fish. I got my binoculars out and saw a dark object about the size of a hot dog, only it had 4 legs! The gull struggled a while to get it oriented, and then swallowed it. If it were warmer out, I might have guessed it was a newt, but I don't think there are many newts out in a lake that is 99.9% frozen over. (both of my neighbors have bubblers, so I have a small part of the 0.1% that isn't frozen...) Though 15 years ago I saw a salamander out in the snow while I was skiing, so I guess it is possible.

Newt? If not, then what?

I watched a gull swallow an entire squirrel that got run over. (Not a real big one)
Last thing I saw of the squirrel was the tail as the gull took one last gulp. It flapped it's wings, crapped, and flew off.

Rat? If wet he would look skinny.

By the way, when I saw the title of this thread I thought you were about to tell us you were a nudist! Glad it's just a birdwatching thread instead.

My wife and I just got back yesterday from the Monte Vista Crane Festival in southern Colorado. There are about 20000 Sandhill Cranes that stop off in the valley, before their move up to Yellowstone. It was absolutely amazing to watch them early in the morning, coming out of the water (they sleep in the wetlands in about a foot of water, for protection) and lifting off to head to the nearby feeding fields. We logged 17 bird species newly spotted for us for the year, and probably 25-30 species overall. All kinds of waterfowl, and raptors. If you are not familair with Sandhill Cranes, they are huge. They are a little taller that Great Blue Herons, and their wingspan can be up quite a big bigger than the herons.

We are at 80 species spotted in 2015. I got into bird watching a few years ago, after putting out feeders in our backyard. My wife got into it after tagging along with me. She is now the one that researched where to travel. It is a great way to see places we would probably never visit. It is also good exercise.

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Originally Posted by Lee Reep

We are at 80 species spotted in 2015. I got into bird watching a few years ago, after putting out feeders in our backyard. My wife got into it after tagging along with me. She is now the one that researched where to travel. It is a great way to see places we would probably never visit. It is also good exercise.

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You might appreciate these two pictures from my living room
Attachment 309195Attachment 309196
The swans are a bit blurry because the sun was nearly down.

Around here, we call them waterdogs, or mudpuppies. They're the aquatic stage of a salamander, and are still active under the ice. We catch them all the time ice fishing.

Sea Gulls will each almost anything they can grab. I've seen sailors toss all sorts of stuff over the side of ships and the seagulls will try to eat it.

Maybe a mouse or vole.

Te other day I saw a Great Blue Heron eat a ground squirrel (probably a white tailed antelope squirrel). The usually eat fish and lizards around here.

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Originally Posted by ryan paulsen

Around here, we call them waterdogs, or mudpuppies. They're the aquatic stage of a salamander, and are still active under the ice. We catch them all the time ice fishing.

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Okay, thanks

In Wyoming, they eat adult jackalopes.

During a high school (yeah, long time ago) outing to San Francisco, 3 friends and I were eating lunch at an outdoor, bay side restaurant. I had taken 1 bite of my hamburger and was moving it back toward the plate, when a gull swept down and stole the whole thing from my hand.

It's pretty impressive seeing the size of objects that a seagull can swallow.

:DYEA i SAT ON A jACKALOPE AT wALL dRUG:p:rolleyes:

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Originally Posted by Roger Rettenmeier

In Wyoming, they eat adult jackalopes.

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