ML208500241

Age

Not specified

Sex

Not specified

Observation details

This bird provides the first record of Laughing Gull from Stanislaus County, apparently a bird in first summer plumage. It was found and photographed by Eric Caine at the Modesto wastewater treatment plant on June 13, 2010. Following is Eric's description of the bird, including notes from correspondence between Eric and myself. From notes taken on site: mantle color approximately the same as nearby adult Western Gull (this Western Gull was clearly of the lighter race); upper wing same as mantle except beginning at the base of the primaries dark black all the way to the wing tips; under wing smudgy dark from tips of primaries to base; from there on in, smudgy black striations all the way to the body; face with smudgy eye arcs, smudgy ear patch and hind neck; dirty crown lacking hooded effect; bill long as or longer than head with distinctly curved culmen, slight angle to gonys; bill all black. In flight this bird looks at least a third larger than when perched because of the very long, pointed wing span; no white on primaries or upper wing. Tail featured a broad black band (more than a third of the tail) that extended from edge to edge. A very narrow white border could occasionally be seen along one edge of the tail, but it was hard to see what caused this effect. The bill seemed long and thick [in comparison to that of a Franklin's Gull] and sometimes seemed nearly as large as nearby California Gulls'. These details in addition to photo already sent. This bird showed all the characteristics of Laughing Gull in flight: extensive dark primaries upper and underside, dusky striations on the underwing, broad black tail band all the way to the edges, etc. The tail band extended all the way to edges except for a very thin white edge on the left side of the tail, about the thickness of [that of a] Western Kingbird. The mantle color...wasn't as dark as the two Franklin's Gulls we had had previously. In flight, the extensive black primaries, both upper and lower side, again did not seem right for Franklin's Gull.Next thing was the bill: too big, too curved for Franklin's. I lost the bird a couple of times. Fortunately, it rejoined the Cals and Western often enough for a thorough study. It is possible that this Laughing Gull remained until or returned on July 10, 2010, as indicated in a July 17, 2010 email from Eric Caine. He writes, "On the field trip this morning,[a local birder] casually mentioned he had seen the Laughing Gull last Saturday. When I asked him whether he was certain it was not a Franklin's Gull, he gave an accurate description of Laughing Gull. Said it was with a bunch of Bonies." Submitted by Harold Reeve on February 10, 2020.

Technical information

Model

KODAK Z812 IS ZOOM DIGITAL CAMERA

ISO

68

Focal length

70.2 mm

Flash

Flash did not fire, auto

f-stop

f/4.8

Shutter speed

1/800 sec

Dimensions

3264 pixels x 2448 pixels

Original file size

2.06 MB