Little Gull

 

  I went birding yesterday in Rhode Island. I spent all day birding in the hopes of collecting rarities. The bird I most wanted was a Little Gull. Little Gulls are actually the smallest gull in the world. They primarily live in Eurasia. There are small colonies around the Great Lakes and Hudson Bay, but other than those places they are rare in the rest of North America. Though not the first ones to visit RI, this is the second one to come to RI since I became a birder. It turns out, there are three in Rhode Island right now. However, the most consistent ones are between South Kingstown Town Beach and the Ocean Mist.

   The problem is there are probably two thousand gulls in that are right now. Due to all of these Nor'easters gulls have been pushed to the shore by the thousands. It really is amazing to see so many birds. The other problem is Little Gulls look a lot like Bonaparte Gulls. Bonapartes are also small though not as small as Little Gulls and they have a black patch on the side of the head as do Little Gulls this time of year. As Dan Berard said "it's like looking for a needle in a stack full of needles"

  The first place I went yesterday was South Kingstown Town Beach. Speaking of Dan, he was there looking through the gulls.  Dan is the best birder in Rhode Island or at least tied for that spot. He has a memory to remember field marks and ears to hear songs like no other birder. So I was thrilled Dan was there. I knew if I didn't find the bird he would if it was around.

   

That is exactly what happened, twice! He found the Little Gull on the water with a flock of several hundred Bonaparte Gulls. Twice he got it in his scope for me to look at and twice I couldn't see it! Between the wave action and my inexperience with this species, I just could not pick it out in a scope view full of thirty birds huddled together in the few seconds before they would lift to avoid a wave..

   So I realized my best chance to see it was to find it when it flew. Though Little Gulls can be told apart from other species by their size, a dark smudge on top of the head, and their roundish wings, those were tough field marks figure out when you only have two or three seconds before the bird moves in the waves. The key field mark is they are the only gull with a completely dark underwing. Find a gull with the underwing almost completely black and you found a Little Gull. 

   Every time a part of the flock took off or rose to avoid a crashing wave I looked at them with my bins. After an hour of this strategy I finally saw the adult Little Gull. It was down the beach to the left but it flew slowly towards us. I called it out to Dan and the other birders and we watched it for the minute or so before it landed. Once in the water I lost it again in the hoard of gulls. We saw the adult fly twice. A juvenile also flew by giving great looks to the group but I did not see it.

    Later in the day after looking for other birds my friend Richard Tucker texted me asking where I saw the Little Gull. After I told him, I went back to the beach to help find it. Though I actually did little to help find it someone spotted it and we got great looks at it flying. Since the sun was more behind us, I got my best photo of the bird near sunset.

   With the Little Gull, I have gotten three lifers since January 1. I got a total of four lifers all of last year, and one of those was in Missouri. However, I got two of those four in December (plus two RI state birds), so I am finally on a pretty good run. I hope it continues.