ML266955421

Age and sex

Adult, Unknown sex - 1

Behaviors

Flying

Observation details

Adult in basic plumage. Undoubtedly the same bird that was found here by Robbye Johnson 9/26. Seen on both sides of the state line as it flew to the other side of the entry and returned. Long, drooping black bill becoming dark reddish near the tip but still dark. Legs and feet also black. Eyes dark. Outline of narrow white eye crescents visible. Head and neck white with minimal amount of gray streaking on auriculars and hind crown. Mantle is gray, clearly darker than adult ring-billed, many of which were present for direct comparison. On the perched bird, tertials were white on the tips, producing a narrow band of white between tertials and folded wing. The primaries themselves were black with very small amount of white on the tips. Rump and tail white. Underparts all white. In flight, no white was seen separating the gray mantle from black primaries. There was a white trailing edge along the inner wing. Underwing showed more extensive black on the outer wing than would be expected on a Franklin’s Gull. The wing tips of this bird were not rounded like a Franklin’s and the wings were proportunately longer. However, it appeared that one or two of the primaries were still growing in which meant it the bird didn’t have the very pointed wing tip that is typical of Laughing Gull. This also meant that the primary extension beyond the tertials at rest didn’t look as impressive as it normally would. Observed from 1753 to 1810 using Bausch & Lomb 9 x 42 elite binoculars. Conditions were partly cloudy to mostly cloudy. Looking north when it was perched and north to northeast when it flew back and forth to the Minnesota side of the entry. Distance when perched on the Wisconsin side of the Entry was 5-10 m. NB: The Laughing Gull was judged to have flown into Minnesota waters a couple of times although it never landed on the MN breakwall. It was unquestionably in Minnesota when all of the gulls were flushed by 3 eagles coming at them from the WI side — they all flew north towards Canal Park and disappeared from sight. When I left the area there were zero gulls on either side of the Entry.

Technical information

Model

Canon EOS 5DS R

Lens

EF100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS II USM

ISO

2000

Focal length

400 mm

Flash

Flash did not fire

f-stop

f/8.0

Shutter speed

1/500 sec

Dimensions

3798 pixels x 3038 pixels

Original file size

6.97 MB