There seem to be some early signs of a Franklin's gull incursion this
fall, so I poked around in the records. This Great Plains breeder is an
oddball in many ways. Uniquely among our gulls, it molts twice in a
year.  And I recall seeing a colony in Colorado when my brother and I
were birding out there; I admit I cried out "Ross's gulls!" when I saw
all those pinkish gulls out in a marsh. Peterjohn calls them
"accidental" and "casual to rare" inland in Ohio depending on season,
but Franklin Co has records of forty-plus Franklin's, along with the
first state record a few miles away in Licking County in 1906, and four
specimens from the some locality.
        Larger Ohio movements of Franklin's seem to accompany strong winds from
the west in fall, and there are some early signs of extras this year.
Back in 1998, 340+ were reported to the Ohio Cardinal, and there must
have been many more. A lot of them were seen along Lk Erie and and
inland reservoirs, but many were found in agricultural fields,
especially accompanying ring-billeds foraging while fall plowing was
going on and few observers pad attention. Most of these birds appeared
in November that year. You wonder how many Franklin's are missed as we
heedlessly drive by inland gull flocks. In the fall of 2003, 65 were
reported, 59 of them inland. In fall of 2001 32 were reported inland,
only one along the Lake. Only eight were reported in 2004, seven
inland--mostly at reservoirs. Fifteen in the fall of 2007 were all seen
inland. I could go on, but I suspect the chances of seeing this bird in
fall here are better inland...if we bother to be alert.
Bill Whan
Columbus

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