Another Birding Emergency

 

October 25th

          I was working in the garden all afternoon pulling out annuals and had just returned from disposing of the yard waste about 4:30pm when Mike met me at the door as I pulled into the garage.  He said, “Did you know that a Franklin’s Gull was seen this morning at Cullen Park?”  I replied, “No I did not but I don’t have time to chase it now.  You know I have dinner plans with the “Round Table” girls at 6:00pm.” 

         Mike was pacing around and finally said, “Well, maybe I’ll go and see if I can find the gull and if I do, I’ll call you.”  So, I jumped in the shower, got cleaned up and at 5:15pm I got the call.  Even though it was totally crazy, I hustled to Electra and got to Cullen Park at 5:40pm.  When I pulled into the parking lot and grabbed my binoculars, some woman asked me if I was there to see the gull. I said that I was, and she said that it had just flown off!  I quickly called Mike and he said, “No, we’ve got it!”

         I hurried along the trail, climbed down some rocks in the wrong shoes, looked in the scope and saw the Franklin’s Gull.  I got a pretty good look and said, “I’ve got to go”.  I called my friend to say that I’d be late, but got there before anyone even had their drinks.  What a whirlwind!

         A Franklin’s Gull is a medium-sized gull with white eye arcs, and large white tail spots on black wingtips.  In nonbreeding plumage, they have a partial black hood, black bill and black legs.  They breed around lakes and marshes in the prairies of north-central North America.  After breeding, Franklin's Gulls spend a few months moving around the North American interior before heading south.  They are a long-distance migrant that winters along the Pacific coastline of Peru and Chile.

(1 new species, total for the year 301)

Franklin’s Gull (scarce)

 

                                    Franklin's Gull

                                    Another view


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