Howdy All,

I arrived at the south beach last night at just before 6:00 pm after
getting my van from repairs later than expected and fighting through
rush hour traffic.  The Franklin's gulls were not on the beach with the
local flock of Ring-billed Gulls, but that was apparently due to people
walking their dogs on the beach and later another group pushing a baby
carriage on the sand.  I scanned the lake with binoculars and found two
gulls alone out on the lake at least half-way across the lake.  I found
them in my telescope, and they were the two Franklin's Gulls.
Eventually a Ring-billed Gull joined them.  With these distant scope
views I could see that the dark hood that is complete around the back of
the head, the relatively small size relative to Ring-billed Gull and the
small all dark bill, the dark primaries (too far to see the white edges
of the primaries) and the white edging between the tertials and the
primaries.  I needed 60X on my telescope to get the best view.  They
moved around due to boats moving around on the lake.  They swam closer
to the beach at one point so that could see the white around the eye at
60X, but they never joined the Ring-billed Gulls on the beach or came
really close to the beach.  I watched them for about 45 minutes as the
moved around on the lake escaping disturbance by the boats and
fishermen. 

 

They stayed out on the lake until the light started fading at about 7:00
pm due to the sun setting and the approaching cloud cover.  I left at
about 7:00 pm.

Jay

 

Jay G. Lehman

Cincinnati, OH

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