Scaup flock, Trustom

When I checked the Rhode Island rare bird alert posting this morning, I noticed the following delicious item: somebody reputable had spotted, yesterday afternoon on the beach at the Trustom Pond National Wildlife Refuge, a Ross's Gull, that fabulously rare Arctic bird that has been known to put in a brief appearance on the Atlantic shores during the winter. Since it wasn't very wintry on Superbowl Sunday, I had no excuse whatsoever for staying indoors. Maybe, just maybe, I'd get lucky, too, at Trustom, and though my optimism wasn't rewarded—the Ross's was there for that quick Saturday visit and then returned to wandering the ocean—there was plenty to observe and photograph. I still have the supertelephoto in my toolkit, so I was able to get lots of shots of waterfowl soaking up the abundant sunshine in the unfrozen pond. This small flock of airborne Scaup—from the wing pattern, I'm guessing these are Lesser Scaup, but the Lessers and Greaters are not that easy to tell apart, so I'm hedging any ID bets—was one of the day's delights, and more than made up for the ghost gull.