----- Original Message -----
From: Wayne C. Weber <contopus at shaw.ca>
To: BCINTBIRD <bcintbird at yahoogroups.com>; BC BIRDING
<bcprovbirding at yahoogroups.com>
Cc: KAMLOOPS NATURALISTS <knc-info at jsthrower.com>; WKBIRDS
<wkbirds at yahoogroups.com>
Sent: Monday, September 09, 2002 8:10 AM
Subject: UPDATE ON SABINE'S AND FRANKLIN'S GULLS


> Birders,
>
> I spent most of the day yesterday birding the Nicola Valley again.
> Although I mostly birded different localities than on Saturday. I
did
> visit Douglas Lake again, and also birded most of the Nicola Lake
> shoreline from Highway 5A.
>
> The immature FRANKLIN'S GULL had moved a few km, from the Nicola
River
> mouth on Highway 5A to the mouth of Quilchena Creek, just west of
the
> Quilchena Hotel. (These are the 2 preferred roosting spots for gulls
> on the lake-- if they are disturbed at one of these localities, they
> will often move to the other one.) I watched the bird for about 10
> minutes in mid-afternoon. It was clearly the same bird as seen on
> Saturday, with the broken left leg. It had difficulty balancing on
its
> one good leg in the brisk afternoon wind (windsurfers and sailors
were
> out in numbers), and spent more time in flight than the other gulls
in
> the area (1 Herring, 13 Californias, and 2 Ring-bills).
>
> At the west end of Douglas Lake, which I visited from about 6:30 to
> 7:30 PM, there were now four (4) SABINE'S GULLS feeding over the
lake,
> instead of the one I had seen on Saturday. However, the COMMON TERNS
> had decreased from 60 birds to two. The SABINE'S GULLS were all in
> adult breeding plumage, with dark gray hoods and the unmistakable
wing
> pattern. The four birds were a delight to watch as they wheeled and
> zoomed back and forth over the lake in ternlike fashion, with 3
birds
> occasionally visible at once through the scope. It's a novelty
> watching these birds from land instead of from a pitching, tossing
> salmon charter boat.
>
> The SABINE'S GULLS were closer than the one I saw on Saturday--
about
> 200 metres away instead of 500 metres away. The lighting was OK, but
> the sky was overcast, as opposed to the brilliant sunshine of the
> previous day.
>
> Gary Davidson, on the WKBIRDS group, reported a SABINE'S GULL near
> Nakusp over the Labour Day weekend, but so far I have seen no other
> reports this fall for the B.C. southern Interior. Some of you
should
> try to find some elsewhere. Surely Douglas Lake cannot have a
monopoly
> on this species for the whole Southern Interior!
>
> Good birding to all,
>
> Wayne C. Weber
> Kamloops, BC
> contopus at shaw.ca
>
>