Franklin's Gulls in Flight

 

Franklin's gulls are at the Bear River MBR and will remain there for a while. 

These birds arrive in early April from as far away as Chile, along the shores of South America.  Thousands nest here in Norther Utah and leave our state by late September or early October.  How wonderful it is to have these birds at least for a while.

Generally, life is good.

Franklin's Gulls at the Great Salt Lake

I like to photograph birds in the clouds of brine flies and how those flies add an interesting texture and a feeling of a harsh salty shore of Great Salt Lake.

The Franklin's Gulls are thriving on the brine flies. It's so easy when your food in front of you and you have only to open your mouth to have it. 

Franklin's Gulls are taking off the shore, flapping their wings. They seem so disorderly but in a few seconds they will form groups and fly to another shore. 

Are they social? Yes, they are.  Noisy? Very. 

I hope to get one more time in August to Antelope Island.  We are having another heat wave and I am staying at home but next week will be cooler. And maybe even rain.   

Generally, life is good!

Who Feeds on Brine Flies on Antelope Island - II

The infamous brine flies are so thick on the shore of the Great Salt Lake that my lens sometimes had a difficult time to focus, especially on Franklin's Gulls who were running through clouds of flies with open mouths to catch as much flies as possible. This guy does exactly that.

There were many adult and young Ring-billed Gulls that morning.  Adult Ring-billed Gull is silvery gray on the back and white on head. Young Gulls are molted brown.

I was surprised to see a Western Willet among Franklin's Gulls on Antelope Island.  Apparently they also feed on brine flies. 

There were hundreds of American Avocets.  I was wondering recently why there aren't many of these birds at Bear River right now. Apparently, Avocets prefer to stay on Antelope Island this summer. 

Running but not very fast through a cloud of brine flies.

Some Franklin's Gulls weren't  running. Why bother? You can open mouth and catch brine flies right where you are.

Franklin's Gull and Western Willet are having their breakfast.

Who Feeds on Brine Flies on Antelope Island - I.

I wasn't on Antelope Island for a long time. Early in spring it was closed because of pandemic, then reopened but only for people who live in Davis County (I live in Weber County). It was so confusing that for a few months I even didn't try to sneak onto Antelope Island.  Today was my first visit to Island and I had a fantastic time there.

At this time of year there are hundreds of Franklin's Gulls and of course massive numbers of brine flies. They don't bite and won't even land on humans. They are nutritious food for Franklin's Gulls and other birds.

The blurry brown bits in the background are brine flies.

This morning I concentrated mostly on Franklin's Gulls who were resting from running and feeding on brine flies.  You can see here how Gulls are running and feeding on those flies. 

Franklin's Gulls are so beautiful in flight.

This guy came from nowhere and landed very carefully near other Gull.

When the place became crowded he decided to leave.  Some birds prefer to have more private space.



to be continued...

Franklin Gulls

Franklin's Gulls are a mystery. They arrive in the early Spring at Bear River, stay for a short time and disappear. I know that they nest in marshes of Great Basin but why they don't nest at Bear River I have no idea.

I can only speculate that Franklin's Gulls are transit migrants who visit the Bear River in the early spring and then they go somewhere else.

It's time for cleaning in many different ways.

I love how the eyes of this gull became the narrow slits making him looking so sweet.

An American Coot joined the Gull. Coots are everywhere, they often get into my shots uninvited.

Looking at this photo on my computer I was puzzled. Is it a Franklin's Gull or not?  The color of bill is so different. 

Another Gull is cleaning himself.  What a stretch!

The Franklin's Gulls migrate in the fall to southern South America. They are the long-distance migrants. Sabine's Gull is only other gull who can undertake the long migration.

Joining the Crowd

I have never seen so many gulls at Bear river.
They were noisy and stayed very close to each other.

From time to time some gulls joined this big group. They did it in a very bold 
way trying to get in the middle of the group.
There wasn't any consideration how they would land.  
Would they be accepted by 
other gulls?  The gulls just did it.
I guess these are Franklin's gulls but I am not sure.