Birder's John Ralston and myself had a winter plumage Franklin's Gull at the Sault Ste. Marie Landfill today while taking part in the local CBC. I was dumbfounded when I came across this bird roosting in with 500 or so Herring Gulls. Just as i realized what it was it flew off to the garbage pile. About 20 minutes later John relocated the bird rooting around the garbage with the Herring , Glaucous and Great Black-backed Gulls. It looked a wee bit out of place. At about 1130 it took off clearly heading down towards the St. Mary's River. Numerous pictures were obtained just to reassured ourselves we hadn't imagined the whole episode. In the 100 or so trips to the local landfill this is the first "hooded" gull I have ever come across. Franklin's Gull could be considered a rare migrant locally-this is undoubtedly the first winter record.
Kirk Zufelt _______________________________________________ ONTBIRDS is presented by the Ontario Field Ornithologists - the provincial birding organization. Send bird reports to [email protected] For information about ONTBIRDS visit http://www.ofo.ca/
