Sighting Record for Utah

Common name:	Laughing Gull
Scientific name:	6/04/24
Date:	[Leucophaeus atricilla]
Time:	7:15-:30am + 10:05-:20
Length of time observed:	About half-hour
Number:	1
Age:	unknown
Sex:	unknown
Location:	South side of Sand Hollow Reservoir
County:	Washington
Latilong:
Elevation:	~2800 ft
Distance to bird:	30-100+ yards
Optical equipment:	Swarovski 42x8.5 + Nikon 20x zoom
Weather:	First view: High overcast, warm at 70+ degrees, no wind. Second view: Clear, 80-some degrees, low wind
Light Conditions:	First views early-day cloud-filtered sunshine, partially into the light. Second views bright morning sunshine mostly from the side and rear.
Description: Size of bird:	Much larger than nearby Bonaparte s, a notch or two smaller than nearby Ring-bills. My impression was about the size of a Heerman s Gull?
(Description:) Basic Shape:	Gull
(Description:) Overall Pattern:	Dark mantle above (much darker than nearby gulls), darkening head, white below with faint mottling on breast-sides, dark wingtips, white tail.
(Description:) Bill Type:	Gull
(Description:) Field Marks and Identifying Characteristics:	Dark mantle with no white spots/tips in wings either at rest or in flight. Dark head apparently transitioning to black. White eye arcs present but not conspicuous. Black bill. (I looked hard to detect any red tint. A few times I THOUGHT I might have seen some on the lips on the inward half of mandibles, but I m not convinced that wasn t the effect of the lighting, moisture and the red sand reflecting.) Legs blackish, not jet black but a dark slate. The breast-sides were slightly smudgy, otherwise underparts were white/whitish. Tail gleaming white at rest and in flight. Wings at rest appear all-black in primaries, with a fairly broad whitish border with the upper wing (= white tertial tips??). In flight the wings appeared almost black (very dark gray) from the wrist outward, and paler dark gray inward. No white spots/tips. A thin white stripe along tip of inner trailing edge (= white tips to secondaries??). (see photos)
Song or call & method of delivery:	Silent
Behavior:	When not resting on sandy beach with other gulls, it walked along the shoreline by itself picking at food along the way. Twice it flew off out over the reservoir, and at least the one time it returned to the same spot. It was more SKITTISH than the other gulls, hardly approachable. (Perhaps the other gulls were more accustomed to the people who frequent (overrun) this recreation destination.) In flight over the reservoir it banked and dropped down to or near the surface, apparently to pick off something to eat.
Habitat:	Broad sandy beach at Sand Hollow Reservoir's south side.
Similar species and how were they eliminated:	Franklin s Gull was the only serious contender. The plain black wingtips was the main differentiator.
Previous experience with this & similar species:	I have minimal experience with LAUGHING GULL, especially in breeding/transition plumage. Most recently, there happened to be a vagrant in full breeding plumage at Tokeland on the SW WA coast last September. (Interestingly, my field trip group largely ignored it in favor of our real targets: 1 Hudsonian and 2 Bar-tails among 3-400 Marbled Godwits!) So I remembered well the dark mantle and long, thin bill. This bird was not nearly so cleanly marked. I have little experience with FRANKLIN S GULL, but have observed a few at a time mixed in with other gulls during most of my several visits to the gull-and-shorebird beach at Sand Hollow this spring.
References consulted:	None at first. I didn t have my Sibleys or Nat l Geo field guide. I was suspicious enough to take some cell phone shots and ran it by local expert Rick Fridell who said it looks good for Laughing Gull. Later when Toni Taylor arrived, we studied comparisons between Franklin s and Laughing Gull on her Sibley s app.
Description from:	From memory From photo(s) taken at the time of the sighting
Observer:	Paul Hicks + 1 other
Observer's address:	1630 E 2450 So #26, St George 84790
Observer's e-mail address:	**
Other observers who independently identified this bird:	Toni Taylor arrived in time for the "second viewing" but she would not have IDed the bird independently. I talked her through all the ID marks in real time and then we studied her Sibleys app comparisons.
Date prepared:
Additional material:	Photos
Additional comments:	I m not totally sure why (obsession? memory of seeing one last September?), but this bird raised my suspicions enough to move in for a closer view, and then when I noticed the plain black wingtips I walked back to my car to get my cell phone on a hunch. (Tho I wanted this to be a Laughing Gull, I had no idea how unusual it is here.) It MIGHT have been the profile being slightly different from Franklin s, perhaps the bill seemed larger/longer? but something about the gizz. And the transitioning black of the head was interesting, which made the eye arcs quite inconspicuous. The bird was not approachable and flew off when I was about 40 yards away. So I got to watch it in flight. A few hours later I invited Toni Taylor to join me and bring her new camera, just in case it returned. It flew in shortly after she arrived! I was able to talk her through all the identifying marks. After maybe 10-15 minutes a distant sunbather spooked it again. This time we got to wa tch it bank and turn several times out over the water in excellent light, giving good views of the upperparts including wing pattern. Then we studied her Sibley s app with comparisons of the two species, and confirmed to ourselves this was a Laughing Gull. And I m sure her photos will confirm the ID as well.