At the start of last week a Franklin's Gull was found in a field with Black-headed Gulls just outside Winchester. There has been sightings of Franklin's Gull since the late summer, one having been seen on the Isle of Wight, then Stanpit Marsh in Dorset and more recently suppressed at Needs Oare here in Hampshire. This bird though was accessible and had remained loyal to this arable field alongside a Housing estate in the north west of Winchester.
Today was my first opportunity to go and try to see the bird, it was also the first heavy frost of the season so I found myself standing on the edge of a field on frozen ground with trees hiding the sun. The field itself was in the sunshine and there were Black-headed Gulls a nd a single Common Gull flying around. I arrived at 9.00am and joined a group that grew over the next few hours. Fortunately there were plenty there to talk to and share old stories. Just before 11:00, and two hours in the cold, the gull arrived and started to circle the field amongst the Black-headed Gulls. At first it was distant but would come closer.
Dropping to the ground every so often to pick up insects or probably worms.
This was a first in the United Kingdom for me and of course here in Hampshire. This is only the third bird seen in Hampshire, the other two being in 1970 and 2014, the first bird being found at Farlington Marshes and the second, in 2014, at Ibsley Water.
With such rarity I settled in to get as much as I could on the gull as it circled around the field.
Here it appeared to have a piece of stubble caught in its bill, which it was later able to remove.
The Franklin's Gull scientific name is Leucophaeus
pipixcans, the genus name Leucophaeus is from Ancient Greek leukos,
"white", and phaios, "dusky". The specific pipixcan
is a Nahuatl (Aztec Mexican) name for a type of gull.
This species was first collected by Dr. John Richardson, on
the first Sir John Franklin expedition to northwestern Canada in 1823, probably
from the Saskatchewan River. Sabine described the bird, noted its unique
characteristics, but mistakenly called it a Laughing Gull (L. atricilla). After
the second Franklin expedition, Richardson named it Franklin's Rosy Gull (L.
franklinii), a name widely used for 90 years.
The summer adult's body is white and its back and wings are
much darker grey than all other gulls of similar size except the larger laughing
gull. The wings have black tips with an adjacent white band. The bill and legs
are red. The black hood of the breeding adult is mostly lost in winter.
Young birds are similar to the adult but have less developed
hoods and lack the white wing band. They take three years to reach maturity. This bird is considered to be a second calendar
bird, and will reach adult hood next year.
The lovely white wing band clearly visible in this bird.
The trees around the field provided some very nice bokeh to accentuate the bird.
Dropping on to the ground once more, this time a little closer.
Its behaviour as it flew around the field reminded me more of that of the Little Gull, twisting and turning and dropping to pick up items of food. The Black-headed Gulls were clearly bigger and not so agile or delicate in how they addressed the same needs.
The Franklin's Gull depends on extensive prairie marshes for
breeding, and entire colonies may shift sites from year to year depending on
water levels. Once threatened by habitat loss due to large-scale drainage
projects and the Dust Bowl years, this species has regained numbers with the
creation of large wetlands, mainly on protected national wildlife refuges.
Colony shifts continue to occur, however, influenced by drought and fluctuating
water levels.
In migration and the breeding season, this is a familiar
bird with large flocks following the plough or disk harrow, eating earthworms,
grasshoppers, grubs, seeds, and occasionally mice. On lakes and marshes, it
also feeds aerially on flying insects and snatches recently emerged insects
from the water or plant surfaces. After an extensive period of post-breeding
wandering in the prairie regions, it migrates through Mexico to the west coast
of South America, Peru and Chile being typical destinations. One or two losing
direction and heading east to Europe as far east as Israel.
The feet appear a yellowish green here, but that is because they are covered in mud.
The trees would produce a lovely black background to showcase the gull.
Franklin's Gull is susceptible to human disturbance early in
its breeding cycle and will desert colonies readily. Because of their ephemeral
nature and the vulnerability of prairie marshes to drought and drainage,
breeding colonies often shift from year to year, and in some years local
populations may not breed at all.
It was a case of walking around the edge of the field to try and find the best place to watch and photograph, but this would also mean try to get the best light. In this shot though, with the light behind the bird it shows off the lovely black tips and windows of the primaries and white band on the trailing edge of the wing.
The tail feathers are a light grey.
Head on view as it scours the ground below.
Another lovely black background.
I had been watching and photographing the gull for just over an hour and a half, the large crowd had now dispersed although there was a dribble of newbies turning up to watch the gull. I walked back to my original position and the gull settled close by, so I took some more of it on the ground.
And when it took off to circle once more I decided I had seen enough.
Worth the wait as the gull performed well. Another first for the year that was turning out to be a good one. It was just lunchtime, where to go next?
