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Posted by Brian Rapoza on 18:59:18 01/25/15
In Reply to: Common Merganser, Thayer's Gull, Yes posted by Jim Sigsbee
Inspired by Jim's success, I visited Daytona Beach this weekend in search of the Common Merganser and Thayer's Gull. Locating the merganser took two tries; I was able to find it easily first thing this morning, at the same location that Jim saw it. I was able to obtain great views, all from an angle that was not looking directly into the rising sun. This was a new state bird for me.
Finding the Thayer's Gull required sorting through the tens of thousands of gulls that stage along the beach at Daytona Beach Shores in the late afternoon. Fortunately, two gull experts, Cameron Cox and Michael Brothers, were also searching for the Thayer's yesterday afternoon, so it seemed like a simple matter to just follow them around until they located it. Unfortunately, I was not standing close enough to Cameron when he spotted a Thayer's flying directly in front of us, so I had no idea it had just passed. We searched for it along the beach as darkness descended, but didn't have enough time or light to relocate it. This is a species that has been showing up almost annually during winter at this location, so I'm sure there will be other opportunities to add it to my Florida list.
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