April 9 - Great Blue Heron vs. gulls

Did not get out of the apartment today so the only birding I did was from the window. I did pick up one new bird for the month. Around 1:40 pm I spotted a Great Blue Heron flying over the ship canal off Muscota Marsh. It was pursued by several gulls including a Great Black-backed Gull. It landed in water too deep for it to stand up in and then I could see it was carrying a very large fish. This was why the gulls were chasing it. After swimming in the water briefly it took off again still carrying its fish and still pursued by a coupe of gulls. The gulls forced it down in the water another couple of times, but it still held onto the fish. Finally the heron got out of the water and started flying north towards the other shore still being harassed by the gulls. It hadn't gone far, however, before it lost its struggle to hang onto the fish. It dropped the fish and though a great Black-backed Gull immediately dropped into the water after the fish, the fish must have still been alive because it apparently got away. At least the gull did not catch it.

The total bird list for the window today was 17 species. My best day so far this month. This brings my April total for Inwood to 42 species with 25 seen from the apartment. Today's apartment list is below.

Canada Goose
Mallard
Double-crested Cormorant
Great Blue Heron
Ring-billed Gull
Herring Gull
Great Black-backed Gull
Rock Pigeon
Mourning Dove
Blue Jay
American Robin
Northern Mockingbird
European Starling
Song Sparrow
Northern Cardinal
Red-winged Blackbird
House Sparrow