Dan Kassebaum, Leroy Harrison and myself had two Little Gulls at the Carlyle Sewage Ponds yesterday. Not bad considering this is a review species in Illinois.
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| Little Gull (1st cycle). Clinton Co, IL. 09 November 2013. |
While we watched this bird for most of the morning, another one snuck in between 10:30-10:45 am. It was quickly picked out by Carlyle Lake guru Dan Kassebaum.:
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| Little Gull (1st cycle). Clinton Co, IL. 09 November 2013. |
The best way to tell them apart is in flight (see the tailband, for instance). I don't remember the last time 2 Littles were reported in Illinois and so we were totally stoked.
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| Doc shot of 2 LIGUs (left) with 2 BOGUs (right). |
Also of interest was a flock of 18 Franklin's Gulls with a posturing Laughing Gull (adult) among them. Here's the Laughing Gull as it came right in, asking to be made famous:
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| Adult Laughing Gull. Clinton Co, IL. 09 November 2013. |
Carlyle Lake is perhaps the most reliable place to see LAGU in Illinois (Dan has records for every month of the year, and it seems every time I read his reports one is being seen). Also a regular straggler at Carlyle of late is Lesser Black-backed Gull (first summer birds - 2nd plumage cycle - in particular). Here's a rather raggedy sub-adult, still completing it's prebasic molt:
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| Lesser Black-backed Gull (4th cycle type). Clinton Co, IL. 09 November 2013. |
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| Franklin's Gull (adult type). Clinton Co, IL. 09 November 2013. |
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| American Herring Gull (3rd cycle type). Clinton Co, IL. 09 November 2013. |
