Trash to treasure..

I did very little of anything the first week of the year, we had weather issues, a wind storm blew a tree on my fence I had to saw that off and have been burning it in the fireplace...there is still a lot of it on the other side of the fence to deal with....but after a week of reading about a Rare Sea Gull being at the Horry County Landfill   last Friday, I decided to go at the very last minute.

Stuffed some food in a bag and away we go....

I arrived at my location sort of late, since I really had not planned this trip I literally just said IM going and 10 minutes later I was behind the wheel.  2 hrs later I was in Conway. 

Passed this cool mural in their downtown historic district...snapped a photo when I had to do a U-turn'; Wilma sent me wrong!! 

This landfill is HUGE you could get lost in it....I went up to the little house at the entry and drove up and said, "Im here to see the bird."  The lady said "just drive straight up that road"...

                               There was just  a few MILLION gulls there...omg

I had hoped to drive up and see a line of birders with scopes set up and they would point me right to the bird....BUT that didn't happen right away. So I drove aimlessly around and found other birds.   Like the Lesser Yellowlegs..in one area where there was some ponds...

There was Bald Eagles in various stage of maturity...

But mostly it was GULLS...

Ring Billed Gulls, Laughing Gulls, Herring Gulls, Lesser and Great Black Backed Gulls 

An immature or female Herring Gull

And an almost Breeding Male Herring Gull 

Mostly Laughing Gulls 

Mostly Ring-Billed Gulls

Great Black Black Gull 

Lesser Black Backed Gull 

AND the star of the SHOW the Slaty-Backed Gull...a mostly Asian Species which ranges from Japan to Coastal Russia, Alaska and sometimes North America!  Found by a birder named Chris Hill on New Years Day ...AND thanks to a tip from one of the Landfill employees he pointed me up the right hill where he had seen other birders looking all week...and then I did run into a birder from Atlanta, and he pointed out the gull...this is how co-operation works. 

Not as big as the Black Backed but very similar...with a crescent shaped white on the wing tips...this is a non breeding male, and once he is a breeding male his head neck and chest will be solid white.  He has bubble gum pink legs and an orange spot on the lower bill...much like a California Gull...with pink legs. 

Good to get something positive...

And it's a four hour drive round trip so it fell within my planned Twitching Zone!

PEACE

Every day is a new Adventure.