Both Ring-billed and Bonaparte's Gulls were actively hawking flying insects (ant emergence I think) along the Hancock and Washington County coasts this past weekend. I caught one Bonaparte's Gull in the act, but the wee beast it was after is not identifiable. There were also a couple of Common Nighthawks after the same bugs Saturday evening in Lubec.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/lrbevier/9612379072/
In mid-August, an emergence of a yellowish ant, probably a cornfield ant (Lasius sp.), attracted swarms of European Starlings. After passing over an ant, one of the starlings bent its tail downward and arched its head backward to corral the bug. The strange posture of this hawking starling is shown here:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/lrbevier/9609190819/
And this shows the ant in the beak:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/lrbevier/9612424858/
I put together a set of photos from this year called In the Beak. Included are a kingbird toying with a dragonfly, a cuckoo crazy about fishflies, a guillemont with its favorite fish, and a Northern Shrike that chased down a Meadow Vole when all that white stuff was on the ground.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/lrbevier/sets/72157635261027929/
Good Birding!
Louis Bevier
Fairfield
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