Featured Highlights - August 2025

Welcome to Featured Highlights, August 2025. This video series aims to highlight ideas found in The Gull Guide - North America. I'll be expanding on and detailing concepts you're reading about in the book, beginning with establishing a foundation for molt and plumage, and hopefully apply some of these ideas to identification. 

This 8th video compares the key features found in juvenile Ring-billed, California and American Herring Gulls. Note that a juvenile is a "1st cycle", but the term juvenile is reserved for those individuals that show no systematic molt. This is the perfect time of year to reacquaint ourselves with these recently fledged Larus species.

Click on thumbnail above and watch in HD.

                                                 

Requests and suggestions can be forwarded to thegullguide@gmail.com

July 2025 Monthly Notables

Sightings:

• Black-headed Gull (adult type). Atlantic County, New Jersey. 04 July 2025.
• Little Gull (adult type). Brown County, Wisconsin. 05 July 2025.
• Common Gull (adult). St. George's-Stephenville County, Newfoundland & Labrador. 06 July 2025.
• Black-headed Gull (2nd cycle). Bay County, Michigan. 10 July 2025.
• Continuing from June.
• Sabine's Gull (adult). Miami-Dade County, Florida. 12 July 2025.
• Black-headed Gull (2nd cycle). Rockingham County, New Hampshire. 13 July 2025.
• Glaucous Gull (2nd cycle). Barnstable County, Massachusetts. 14 July 2025.
• Slaty-backed Gull (adult). Juneau City & Borough, Alaska. 15 July 2025.
• Common Gull (2nd cycle). Humber District-Corner Brook County, Newfoundland & Labrador. 16 July 2025.
• Franklin's Gull (juvenile). Cook County, Illinois. 17 July 2025.
• Sabine's Gull (2nd cycle). Cape May County, New Jersey. 18 July 2025.
• Iceland Gull (3rd cycle type). Ottawa County, Michigan. 19 July 2025.
• Sabine's Gull (2nd cycle). Sussex County, Delaware. 23 July 2025.
• Presumably the same bird seen in Cape May Point, across the Delaware Bay. 
• Franklin's Gull (adult type). Halifax County, Nova Scotia. 23 July 2025.
• Franklin's Gull (juvenile). Napa County, California. 23 July 2025.
• Short-billed Gull (2nd cycle). Door County, Wisconsin. 24 July 2025.
• 1st Summer Record for the state.
• Black-headed Gull (adult). James City County, North Carolina. 25 July 2025.
• Little Gull (adult). Lambton County, Ontario. 25 July 2025.
• Laughing Gull (adult). Ashland County, Wisconsin. 30 July 2025.
• Laughing Gull (2nd cycle). Hoonah-Angoon Census Area, Alaska. 30 July 2025.
• Kelp Gull (adult). Milwaukee County, Wisconsin. 31 July 2025.
• Seen copulating intermittently throughout the month and attempting to nest again, apparently unsuccessfully.