At 9:26 am on November 5th a post came across the Blue Ridge Birders rare bird alert that a Franklin’s Gull was spotted flying down the French Broad River at Biltmore in Buncombe County. That’s one I needed for my NC list, but it sounded like this bird was just passing through and not chaseable. Then at 10:34, just an hour later, came a post that there was a flock of 5 gulls soaring high above Lake Julian in Buncombe County, just a few miles away. Although IDs were unsure, one birder said they might well be Franklin’s. Surely a flock of gulls soaring high over a reservoir wouldn’t stick around for long. At least that was my assumption, so I didn’t leave home to chase these birds either. But when I noticed a 10:47 text from Galen Goodrum that a flock of 10 Franklin’s Gulls were spotted at the Mills River Water Treatment Plant in Henderson County I rushed out the door to give chase.
I had barely backed out of my driveway when I received a post
at 10:48 that the Treatment Plant birds had flown away. So I changed my destination to Lake Julian just
in case those birds might stay put. I
was only a few minutes down the road when something told me to check with Galen
and the Treatment Plant birds one more time.
Sure enough he said the birds had returned to the Treatment Plant lake. So I changed my destination back to Mills
River and tried hard to avoid any speeding tickets.
As I neared the Mills River Water Treatment Plant, Galen
continued to give me updates on his Franklin’s flock. They seemed to be very unsettled, at times
circling over the Treatment Plant, and at times flying out of view. Luckily they kept returning to the lake. I was just a minute away when I looked up and
there was the flock of Franklin’s Gulls passing right over my car. Of course, I hoped for better views.
I pulled into the Treatment Plant and there was Galen
pointing to the sky above the lake. I
quickly got out and spotted the 10 gulls in the flock circling over the lake. The first bird I focused on was an adult and
I was able to see all the applicable field marks. Next I started to look at a couple others
that turned out to be immature birds. Just
as I honed in on the field marks, the entire flock rose up higher and headed off
to the south. Surely they would be back
again. But we waited for another 10
minutes and this time the gulls did not return.
Boy was I lucky – I only had the gulls in view for maybe 30 seconds. If I had hit one more red light in route I
would have missed them. Here is one of
Galen’s excellent photos of one of the adults.
But that’s not the end of the story. I could check-off Franklin’s Gull on my NC state list, and my Henderson County List. But what about the Buncombe County birds at Lake Julian? I texted Jay Wherley who was at Julian and he said they were still there. Remarkably they were still flying and soaring high over the lake. Surely I would have thought those birds would have taken off by now, but I’m glad I was wrong.
After another white-knuckle ride (why are there so many red
lights?) I arrived at Lake Julian and headed to the water’s edge to scan for
the gulls. Jay met me there, and after a
short search re-found the birds soaring way up in the sky. And although they were REALLY high, with scope
views and persistence, I was eventually able to see all the salient field marks
of adult and immature Franklin’s Gulls.
I was happy that both chases worked out, and I was able to check
them off on both my Henderson County list (# 264) and my Buncombe County list
(# 248) that day. Not to mention my NC
state list (# 335).
My statebird map for Franklin’s Gull is inserted below. The light blue-shaded states are those where
I’ve seen this species in its regular range – 18 states as a breeder or migrant
in western US. The 6 cross-hatched
states are those where I’ve yet to see this species in its normal range as a
migrant. Finally, the four dark-blue
shaded states in the east are those where I’ve seen Franklin’s as a rarity –
Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Maryland, and now North Carolina.
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