By Mary Reid Barrow

Avian expert Reese Lukei’s surprise find in a Best Buy parking lot of a ring-billed gull banded years ago in Canada was the topic of a recent Nature Notes.

Even more surprising, actually unbelievable, was Reese’s recent discovery of yet another ring-billed gull also banded years ago by the same research laboratory in Canada.

This time the gull was in a flock of 80 or so gulls in Birchwood Shopping Center behind a McDonald’s where the gulls where feasting, presumably on Big Macs and fries, and where it posed for Reese’s camera.

“This gull was banded 6/16/2016 and hatched in 2013 or earlier,” Reese wrote, “making it at least 13 years old.”

The banded gull was part of same research project as the other gull, which was banded at least 17 years ago. Both were banded on an island in the St. Lawrence River just north of Montreal, Canada.

Reese with his eagle’s eye for birds with bands has banded several birds here and seen some again in the same season or perhaps getting word of them in the following season or two. He has even seen one snow goose he banded seven times over four years and several as many as five times, but nothing beats seeing these two ring-billed gulls.

“It is remarkable to have these two gulls live for 13 and 17 years. It is a very small sample,” he said. “Have to wonder how many banded gulls sit on the sand bars at low tide at Lynnhaven Inlet where thousands are daily during winter?”

After the Nature Notes on the Great Backyard Bird Count, Carolyn Caywood sent this note: “Count me too. I can fly.”

Attached to her note was this great photo of a “flying” squirrel leaping from branch to branch in Carolyn’s backyard in Bayside.

Speaking of squirrels, Glenda Morrison in Kings Grant sent this photo and note to Nature Notes.

“No one can identify these prints in our front yard,” she wrote.

I sent the photo around to the staff and some thought they were squirrel footprints. They remind me of what I think my kitty’s footprints would look like if she were on tip toe.

Emily Lomauro, LRNow’s Pearl Faith and Pearl Schools Manager, used the very apt word “bounder” to describe the critter’s motion, as if it were hopping across the snow and not putting its full foot down.

“It’s hard to tell the scale but it’s a bounder,” Emily said, “and they don’t look very large, so probably a squirrel.”

Anybody want to weigh in to identify the prints?

A coyote loping though Bay Colony in broad daylight a couple of weeks ago was yet another reminder of how cold the weather has been.

It seems the hunt for food was more important to the coyote than being noticed. Its photo was snapped by a mailbox camera in Bay Colony belonging to a cousin of Lana Wolcott and she posted the photo on her Facebook page.

I am sure the coyote has noticed the weather is looking up now. I certainly did the other morning when I saw the first signs of little pink buds popping out on the stems of my blueberry bushes!