Going through the 850 Laughing Gulls standing on the bars east of the Stone
Bridge late this afternoon as the tide went out, I found two adult basic
Franklin's Gulls. The birds were among different groups of Laughing Gulls, one
to the south of the Hunting Creek channel, the other to the north. I saw the
second bird in flight when the gulls were spooked by a low flying eagle, but
lost sight of it when a large part of the flock settled back down on the flats
farther north of the channel (between Porto Vecchio and Jones Point). There
were over 1800 Ring-bills present as well, and more birds were flying in from
down the Potomac when I departed at 1700.
I had spent a couple of hours at the same location in the morning, as the tide
came in. There were many fewer gulls at that time (215 Laughing, 560
Ring-billed), and when the sun came out from behind the clouds I sometimes had
to move to reduce the glare and backlighting.
Sherman Suter
Alexandria VA 22307 / Port Republic MD 20676
