A short drive around in the middle of the day. The laundry pond had a few coots and a couple of moorhens. There was a strong wind which seemed to keep a lot of the birds down.

In a field near the perimeter I saw a flock of about 50 small birds flying around, then landing, in a grassy area. If I was back home I wouldn't hesitate to call it a flock of American pipits. Here, there are many more choices and they were a little too far away to say anything other than they were probably some type of brown pipit with white outer tail feathers. It would have been nice to have a scope. Hopefully they'll stick around and next time they'll be on my side of the fence.

Near the dump I finally stopped and took a look at the flock of gulls which now number around a hundred birds. Like last winter, the majority were black-headed gulls, now all in their white winter plumage. Mixed in were a few lesser black-backed gulls and at least two Armenian gulls. I saw some large gulls flying around which were probably yellow-legged gulls, sometimes considered a subspecies of Herring Gull. I'll have to spend a little more time up at the dump.