The cold temps and NNW winds of the past few days have brought the return of
good numbers of gulls to Lake Anna. Today (11/10) around 2:30 PM I observed a
probable winter adult Franklin's Gull feeding and resting with a large flock
(~300) of mixed specie gulls just off the North Anna Power Station. The gull
flock consisted of 15 Great Black-backed, 12 Laughing, 10 Bonaparte's,75
Herring, and about 200 Ring-billed Gulls. Unfortunately, I did not have my
binoculars with me so I didn't have a great look at the bird that appeared to
be a Franklin's. The bird was smaller than the Laughing Gulls and the head
showed a dark half-hood unlike the mostly dirty gray heads of the Laughing
Gulls. The eye-crecents appeared more pronounced than those of the Laughing
Gulls (although this was difficult to judge without the aid of binos). In
flight, the bird showed a lot of white in the wing-tips including a white bar
separating the primary tips from the rest of the wing.
Historically, Gulls tend to concentrate off of the power station from late
morning to early afternoon and usually depart for parts unknown (Potomac River
or Rappahannock??) in the late afternoon. Keep an eye out.
Good Birding,
Mike Boatwright--
Amherst, VA
You are subscribed to VA-BIRD. To post to this mailing list, simply send email
to va-bird@xxxxxxxxxxxxx. To unsubscribe, send email to
va-bird-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx with 'unsubscribe' in the Subject field.
