ML20986451

Age

Not specified

Sex

Not specified

Observation details

MEGA inland mass record, second county record, part of apparent fallout of this species following strong low pressure moving through midwest. I arrived and quickly scanned the water and noticed two gulls on the water but initially passed by them to scan the remainder of the water. I then set up the scope and went back to the gulls expecting to find ring billed gulls but instead found a couple of dark hooded gulls that immediately struck me as larger than Bonaparte's Gulls with larger, stouter bills. The dark hood was incomplete on both birds with the hood upsweeping on the back of the neck. The overall look of the bird had me thinking either franklin's gull or laughing gull but the feel of the bird leaned heavily to franklin's. The build, less extensive bill and head pattern as well as tail pattern pointed to franklin's. The two birds were very close together with one appearing to be a near adult (or 2nd winter) with white spotting on dark tail, a hint of eye arcs and gray back. the second individual appeared at times to be a bit smaller and had a bit of brownish coloration on the back...perhaps a juv bird just transitioning to it winter plumage? After watching the two for maybe ten minutes a nearby gunshot startled the birds and then flew up and circled around for several minutes allowing me to get some video and photos in flights. The birds both showed a white trailing edge in flight, an almost short necked apperance, relatively clean underwing, dark wing tips with some white at tips on at least one bird. They would flap several times and occasionally glide (almost accipter like at times). They slowly gained altitude and eventually were joined by a third gull but by then they were too far away to see much detail on. Full album on Flickr with additional photos and video: https://www.flickr.com/photos/54277284@N05/albums/72157660389406257 A county bird (#288) a state bird (#318) and a life bird (#916) all in one! This species also broke my previous big county year total (which I tied just a couple days ago with a Pacific Loon at Winsor Dam also!). My new year high count for Hampshire County now stands at 237.

Technical information

Model

Canon EOS 7D

ISO

400

Focal length

420 mm

Flash

Flash did not fire, auto

f-stop

f/5.6

Shutter speed

1/160 sec

Dimensions

3264 pixels x 2448 pixels

Original file size

757.08 KB