My parents called me a few hours ago to say that they tried to find the
Franklin's Gulls, but failed to find any.
However, in a flock of Brown-headed Cowbirds and European Starlings along
Puddledock Road, my mother is pretty sure she spotted a Yellow-headed
Blackbird. Unfortunately, they were unable to refind this bird.
So, if anyone is in the area, please check for his bird.
Elisa Flanders
Portsmouth, VA
Date: Sat, 14 Nov 2015 17:21:12 -0500
From: mr.ellyo@xxxxxxxxx
To: va-bird@xxxxxxxxxxxxx; va-richmond-general@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [Va-bird] Franklin's Gulls, Tri-cities
Hello Birders,
Day two of the Franklin's Gull invasion produced a few more birds in the
greater Richmond area.
Arun Bose and I were able to locate a single 1st year FRANKLIN'S GULL among
the thousands of Laughing Gulls that were heading upriver at city Point in
Hopewell. We had a second bird that was almost certainly was a Franklin's
but we both got on the bird moments before it disappeared behind the tree
line. The bird that we did get good looks at settled on the water with
LAGU for a few minutes. List with a photo:
http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist?subID=S25822932
Arun guessed that all the gulls we watched head upriver were on their way
to the landfill in Colonial Heights. We headed to Colonial Heights to
investigate....he was right.
We checked a handful of retention ponds in the shopping complexes around
the landfill and at our third stop we were in luck. At a large pond in the
parking lot of the Lowes/Sleep Inn (intersection of Temple Ave and
Puddledock Rd) we found at least 2 FRANKLIN'S GULLs among about 2,000
Laughing Gulls. Our impression was that there was that there was the
possibility of more than 2 birds but because of several reshuffles we could
not confirm. At about 3:30pm Fenton Day was able to refind one of the birds
at this location. This will be a good place to check tomorrow from late
morning on as many of the birds feeding at the landfill rest and bath here.
eBird list includes a photo of both birds and a map point for the pond:
http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist?subID=S25827989
Good birding,
Ellison
--
Ellison Orcutt
Birder/Naturalist
Richmond, Va
Cell: (804) 339-6976
Mr.EllyO@xxxxxxxxx
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