August 2025 Monthly Notables

Sightings:

• Franklin's Gull (adult type). Dare County, North Carolina. 01 August 2025.
• Short-billed Gull (2nd cycle). Door County, Wisconsin. 05 August 2025.
• Same individual found inland near Green Bay in July.
• Glaucous Gull (2nd cycle type). Barnstable County, Massachusetts. 05 August 2025.
• Slaty-backed Gull (adult type). Kenai Peninsula Borough, Alaska. 07 August 2025.
• Franklin's Gull (adult). Fairfield County, Connecticut. 07 August 2025. 
• Lesser Black-backed Gull (4th cycle type). Jefferson County, Washington. 09 August 2025.
• Yellow-footed Gull (1st cycle). Sierra County, New Mexico. 09 August 2025.
• California Gull (juvenile). Alfalfa County, Oklahoma. 10 August 2025.
• Kelp Gull (adult). Racine County, Wisconsin. 10 August 2025.
• 1st County Record. Milwaukee bird repositioning throughout a period of heavy thunderstorms.
• Slaty-backed Gull (adult). Juneau City & Borough, Alaska.13 August 2025.
• Common Gull (adult type). Halifax County, Nova Scotia. 16 August 2025.
• Lesser Black-backed Gull (3rd cycle). Sitka City & Borough, Alaska. 18 August 2025.
• Lesser Black-backed Gull (3rd cycle). King County, Washington. 20 August 2025.
• Continuing.
• Gray Gull (adult/5th cycle). Walton County, Florida. 25 August 2025.
• Presumably the 1st ABA individual found here in the summer of 2023.
• Little Gull (juvenile). St. Joseph County, Michigan. 27 August 2025.
• Black-headed Gull (adult). Atlantic County, New Jersey. 31 August 2025.
• Continuing.
• Kelp Gull (adult). Milwaukee County, Wisconsin. 31 August 2025.

Featured Highlights - September 2025

Welcome to Featured Highlights, September 2025. This video series aims to highlight ideas found in The Gull Guide - North America. I'll be expanding on and detailing concepts you're reading about in the book, beginning with establishing a foundation for molt and plumage, and hopefully apply some of these ideas to identification. 

Lesser Black-backed Gull's expansion throughout North America is truly an enigma with zero nesting records found in the US and Canada. Fortunately, their identification is less of a mystery, with the exception of juveniles (1st cycles) which can sometimes present some confusion with the more common American Herring Gull. Video 9 highlights some of the key features used to separate the two. 

Click on thumbnail above and watch in HD.

                                                 

Requests and suggestions can be forwarded to thegullguide@gmail.com

Featured Highlights - August 2025

Welcome to Featured Highlights, August 2025. This video series aims to highlight ideas found in The Gull Guide - North America. I'll be expanding on and detailing concepts you're reading about in the book, beginning with establishing a foundation for molt and plumage, and hopefully apply some of these ideas to identification. 

This 8th video compares the key features found in juvenile Ring-billed, California and American Herring Gulls. Note that a juvenile is a "1st cycle", but the term juvenile is reserved for those individuals that show no systematic molt. This is the perfect time of year to reacquaint ourselves with these recently fledged Larus species.

Click on thumbnail above and watch in HD.

                                                 

Requests and suggestions can be forwarded to thegullguide@gmail.com

July 2025 Monthly Notables

Sightings:

• Black-headed Gull (adult type). Atlantic County, New Jersey. 04 July 2025.
• Little Gull (adult type). Brown County, Wisconsin. 05 July 2025.
• Common Gull (adult). St. George's-Stephenville County, Newfoundland & Labrador. 06 July 2025.
• Black-headed Gull (2nd cycle). Bay County, Michigan. 10 July 2025.
• Continuing from June.
• Sabine's Gull (adult). Miami-Dade County, Florida. 12 July 2025.
• Black-headed Gull (2nd cycle). Rockingham County, New Hampshire. 13 July 2025.
• Glaucous Gull (2nd cycle). Barnstable County, Massachusetts. 14 July 2025.
• Slaty-backed Gull (adult). Juneau City & Borough, Alaska. 15 July 2025.
• Common Gull (2nd cycle). Humber District-Corner Brook County, Newfoundland & Labrador. 16 July 2025.
• Franklin's Gull (juvenile). Cook County, Illinois. 17 July 2025.
• Sabine's Gull (2nd cycle). Cape May County, New Jersey. 18 July 2025.
• Iceland Gull (3rd cycle type). Ottawa County, Michigan. 19 July 2025.
• Sabine's Gull (2nd cycle). Sussex County, Delaware. 23 July 2025.
• Presumably the same bird seen in Cape May Point, across the Delaware Bay. 
• Franklin's Gull (adult type). Halifax County, Nova Scotia. 23 July 2025.
• Franklin's Gull (juvenile). Napa County, California. 23 July 2025.
• Short-billed Gull (2nd cycle). Door County, Wisconsin. 24 July 2025.
• 1st Summer Record for the state.
• Black-headed Gull (adult). James City County, North Carolina. 25 July 2025.
• Little Gull (adult). Lambton County, Ontario. 25 July 2025.
• Laughing Gull (adult). Ashland County, Wisconsin. 30 July 2025.
• Laughing Gull (2nd cycle). Hoonah-Angoon Census Area, Alaska. 30 July 2025.
• Kelp Gull (adult). Milwaukee County, Wisconsin. 31 July 2025.
• Seen copulating intermittently throughout the month and attempting to nest again, apparently unsuccessfully.

Featured Highlights - July 2025

Welcome to Featured Highlights, July 2025. This video series aims to highlight ideas found in The Gull Guide - North America. I'll be expanding on and detailing concepts you're reading about in the book, beginning with establishing a foundation for molt and plumage. 

This 7th video covers the identification of adult Kelp Gulls, which has become relevant given the recent celebrity adult found nesting with and American Herring Gull in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

Click on thumbnail above and watch in HD.

                                                 

Requests and suggestions can be forwarded to thegullguide@gmail.com

 

June 2025 Monthly Notables

Sightings:

• Kelp Gull (adult). Milwaukee County, Wisconsin. 01 June 2025.
• 1ST STATE RECORD*.
• Glaucous Gull (2nd cycle type). Virginia Beach County, Virginia. 01 June 2025.
• Black-headed Gull (2nd cycle). Lambton County, Ontario. 02 June 2025.
• Glaucous Gull (2nd cycle). Portage la Prairie County, Manitoba. 04 June 2025.
• Thayer's Gull (2nd cycle). Sitka City & Borough, Alaska. 05 June 2025.
• Ross's Gull (adult). Nome Census Area, Alaska. 06 June 2025.
• Sabine's Gull (2nd cycle). Kleberg County, Texas. 06 June 2025.
• Sabine's Gull (adult). Rockingham County, New Hampshire. 08 June 2025.
• Black-headed Gull (adult). Fairfield County, Ohio. 09 June 2025.
• Seen in Delaware County, Ohio the next day, 10 June 2025.
• Black-headed Gull (2nd cycle). Bay County, Michigan. 18 June 2025. 
• Apparently, the same individual from Lambton County, Ontario.
• Black-tailed Gull (adult). Buldir Island, Alaska. 16 June 2025.
• Vega Gull (3rd cycle). Sitka, Alaska. 16 June 2025.
• Lesser Black-backed Gull (3rd cycle). King County, Washington. 17 June 2025.
• Sabine's Gull (2nd cycle). Cape May County, New Jersey. 19 June 2025.
• California Gull (2nd cycle). Lake County, Indiana. 20 June 2025.
• Franklin's Gull (2nd cycle type). St. John's County, Newfoundland. 23 June 2025. 
• Laughing Gull (2nd cycle type). St. John's County, Newfoundland. 23 June 2025. 
• Laughing Gull (2nd cycle). Yakutat City and Borough, Alaska. 25 June 2025.
• Ross's Gull (adult). Baffin County, Nunavut. 26 June 2025.
• Ivory Gull (adult). Baffin County, Nunavut. 26 June 2025.
• Little Gull (3 2nd cycle type, 1 adult). Manitowoc County, Wisconsin. 30 June 2025.
• Ross's Gull (adult). Baffin County, Nunavut. 30 June 2025.
• Iceland Gull (2nd cycle). Portage la Prairie County, Manitoba. 30 June 2025.

Notes:

• The Milwaukee Kelp Gull (male), now seen by hundreds of birders, was present all through the month of June in an industrial rooftop colony, hybridizing with an American Herring Gull. Long time Wisconsin birder Tom Schultz unknowingly photographed this adult on a nest last June (2024) and only discovered the black-backed gull while editing his images months later. At the time, it was understandably assumed to be a Great Black-backed Gull. In late May of 2025 (almost one year later), Amar Ayyash independently followed up on this sighting, and much to his surprise, not only found that the bird had returned to the same spot, he found it had yellow legs! After studying the bird and securing open wing images, it was identified as a Kelp Gull by Ayyash. The only known chick was found dead on 17 June 2025. The adult pair was seen bonding, copulating and reinforcing their nest the following day. Both adults have been seen intermittently resting on the nest and copulating a number of times, but it is unknown if new eggs have been laid. It'll be interesting to learn what July brings, and furthermore, whether or not the bird returns in 2026. Interestingly, this event constitutes Wisconsin's 1st State record, and it is the first confirmed occurrence of a Kelp Gull nesting in North America, outside of the Chandeleur Islands where American Herrings and Kelp Gulls were first discovered hybridizing around the year 1990. Furthermore, it is the farthest north a Kelp Gull has ever nested, worldwide!
  
  
• On 05 June 2025, Kalin Ocana reported a nesting hybrid pair that appeared to involve a Western x Glaucous-winged (so-called Olympic Gull) paired with an American Herring Gull on Kopje Island in Lake Country in the Okanagan Valley. Although this three-way hybrid has been suspected in the past, this is the first documented nest site that I know of.
  
  
• An adult Western Gull from the Farallon Islands, fit with a GPS logger, has been documented hitching a ride in a long-haul transfer truck from San Francisco to the Central Valley of California. The female gull was recorded doing this on two separate occasions, two days apart. More can be found in the most recent issue of Waterbirds, 48(1): 1-5. 

Featured Highlights - June 2025

Welcome to Featured Highlights, June 2025. This video series aims to highlight ideas found in The Gull Guide - North America. I'll be expanding on and detailing concepts you're reading about in the book, beginning with establishing a foundation for molt and plumage. 

This 6th video addresses a gateway ID that is one of the first hurdles encountered by beginning birders, and that is Thayer's Gull versus American Herring. Distinguishing these two can often be done with perched birds, but an open wing is almost always used for reassurance. 

Requests and suggestions can be forwarded to thegullguide@gmail.com

Click on thumbnail above and be sure to watch in HD