Laughing Gull

 

September 9^th

          Mike came down with COVID on Saturday and I tested positive on Monday, so we have been isolating all week and feeling pretty lousy.  There were several new birds around earlier in the week, but we were in no condition to chase anything.  By today we were both feeling much better but we still don’t have much energy. This morning, Mike got an alert that a Laughing Gull, which has been reported sporadically the last few days, was seen again at St. Mary’s Fish Hatchery.  We thought about it for a while and after lunch decided to chase it.

          St. Mary’s Fish Hatchery is located on the eastern shore of Grand Lake St. Mary’s.  This is about a two-hour drive south and is a little west of Wapakoneta.  First, a little side note about the lake.  It is 9 miles long and 3 miles wide and is the largest man-made lake in Ohio.  Grand Lake covers almost 3 times as much ground as all of Ohio’s natural lakes combined (excluding Lake Erie).

          The shallow lake was originally constructed all by manual labor as a feeder lake for the Miami-Erie Canal.  At one time, it was the largest man-made lake in the world and is still the largest lake in the world constructed entirely by manual labor.  It took 9 years (1837-1845) to excavate the large reservoir by more than 1,700 men (mostly Irish, French, and German immigrants).

          We arrived at the fish hatchery which is operated by the Ohio Department of Natural Resources about 3:00pm.  The hatchery is open to the public and we spend a lot of time driving the gravel roads surrounding the fish ponds, stopping to scan any gulls we found.  We had no luck locating the Laughing Gull.  However, the water level in two of the ponds had been drawn down creating some great shorebird habitat.  We enjoyed studying all the shorebirds in good light including some great looks at a Baird’s Sandpiper.

          We took one more drive around the area where the Ring-billed Gulls were congregating and no Laughing Gull.  Mike suggested we drive through a park on the other side of the road along the lakeshore.  Again, no Laughing Gull.  It was already 5:00pm. and I was ready to give up, but Mike wanted to check one last time, so we did.  To our amazement, as we drove by, we spotted the immature Laughing Gull.   

          Laughing Gulls are usually found along the Atlantic and Gulf coasts and are unusual further inland.  A Laughing Gull is smaller than a Ring-billed Gull.  It has a thin slightly drooping bill, thin white eye crescents, fairly long wings, and long legs.  The juvenile has an all-black bill, black legs and is brown in color.

(1 new species, total for the year 291)

Laughing Gull (scarce)

                                           Laughing Gull

                                       Laughing Gull (another view)

                                           Short-billed Dowitcher

                                           Sanderling

                                           Pectoral Sandpiper