On April 11, Sally Hill and I posted an eBird report and photos of what we
thought was a Franklin’s Gull. This gull was first seen by Chuck Philo on the
morning of April 11 at South Beach State Park (south of Newport, Oregon). Chuck
showed us his photos, and we were at South Beach looking at the gull in the
early afternoon, April 11. Since then, we have received information from
Hendrik Herlyn and Joshua Little that this gull might actually be a LAUGHING
GULL. Sally and I had talked briefly about the possibility of a Laughing Gull,
but having never seen one myself, I just assumed Franklin’s Gull. Possible
LAUGHING GULL traits from the photos: elongated shape of the bird (slender
body), predominately black primaries with very small white spots, longish dull
red bill, and limited white eye arcs.
We would like to hear opinions from other OBOLers. The link to our eBird report
and photos is as follows:
http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist/S35889557 ;
<http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist/S35889557>
Location seen: From South Beach State Park, walk the beach about one-half mile
south to the small creek. This gull was just on the south side of the creek
with a wad of gulls.
Vickie Buck
Walterville, Oregon
