To elaborate a bit on the timeline this morning, with numbers of birders at Plum Beach laying in wait, Rob Jett and I started checking other locations north of the beach which typically hold numbers of Laughing Gulls. This was roughly 10:30am. We checked Marine Park and Floyd Bennett Field without much success. In fact, there seemed to be no gulls around of any kind. We decided to head to Plum and begin at the western end near Sheepshead Bay. It was from this vantage we initially spotted the Franklin's Gull in flight about mid way to the eastern end of the beach and roughly 200 yards out. This was roughly at 11:30am. In flight the bird was easy to pick out. The smaller wings and rounder wingtips showed so little black in the tips gave the bird a very stiff winged fluttery look compared to the nearby Laughing Gulls. At rest on the water, the amount of white in the wingtips and tertial crescent were easily seen as were the bold eye arcs and the small bill and size compared to Laughing Gulls in the same scope view. Also of note was how high the white on the back of the neck extends up towards the head on the Franklin's. The dark cap seemed even smaller in life that the field guides display and certainly was a noticeable difference between the two species side by side. After making calls to the group of birders down the beach we decided to move closer and it was after this next move the bird departed unseen. An hour vigil proved fruitless, but birds were shuffling and turning over at all times. Some flying west out towards Coney Island and Breezy Point and some flying north over the Belt Parkway. The bird came in and departed unnoticed within a matter of 10 minutes so the more eyes looking the merrier. Good luck if you go and a big thank you to Deborah Allen for making the discovery and getting the word out quickly.
Cheers, Sean Sime Brooklyn, NY -- NYSbirds-L List Info: http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NYSbirdsWELCOME http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NYSbirdsRULES http://www.NortheastBirding.com/NYSbirdsSubscribeConfigurationLeave.htm ARCHIVES: 1) http://www.mail-archive.com/nysbirds-l@cornell.edu/maillist.html 2) http://www.surfbirds.com/birdingmail/Group/NYSBirds-L 3) http://birdingonthe.net/mailinglists/NYSB.html Please submit your observations to eBird: http://ebird.org/content/ebird/ --
