ML645757012

Observation details

medium-sized gull w/ distinctive upperside pattern across back & wings: black ‘M’ (or ‘W’, depending on whether you see it approaching or departing) gray mantle, whitish inner primaries & secondaries; vaguely reminiscent of a SAGU, but black bar separated the gray & white on the inner half of the wing; blackish bar across nape/neck; short black bill; black terminal bar on tail; otherwise white; first observed while scanning the far edge of the vegetation off of the boardwalk for SNKIs; I just happened to notice a strikingly patterned gull fly into my field of view before it dipped down to the water & landed briefly; I was able to videoscope (handheld at a high zoom range, so pretty shaky) it for about 30 seconds before it gained altitude, circled, & headed out of sight south over the lake; I was able to re-find it about 15 minutes later high over the lake in the distance; I watched it for about 5 more minutes as it circled over the main part of the lake west of FL 417 before I finally lost it behind the trees as it headed north; unedited/unrefined videoscope recording attached