Gull Fever

[Gord]

After coming home and putting children for naps, I just had to go out for a quick look at gull flocks around home.

Even with the wind, there were lots of good flocks. It was actually a nice way to view them, as long as the wind was not blasting into the car, as they all faced the same way which helped with quicker looking instead of waiting for feeding gulls moving around enough to provide sufficient views of key features.

Nothing crazy was the result even though there were not as many gulls in the fields as usual. Three Western Gulls were the most exciting. One (adult) was on Chadsey Road by my place and the other two on Gibson Rd (adult and juv) Some places the flocks were close to the road which made viewing fun. One Mew Gull extracted a big dew worm from the grass and then wrestled it down.

[Deleted]

I can't shake the gull fever either. That Ivory Gull has to still be around somewhere. If anyone is still hoping they might find it, you might want to read this. Otherwise, skip this; it will just be long and boring.

I went yesterday afternoon to check out gull sites. Mid afternoon there were several hundred gulls on the sandbar in the Fraser upstream from Hatzic, reasonably viewable with a scope from the dyke at the east end of Page Road. By dusk there were thousands of gulls there. So my hunch is that many of the local gulls regularly roost there overnight. I decided to make today a gull project day.

This morning I went there early, but not early enough, in hope of seeing where they disperse to, when they leave. By 7:30 they were all gone. So I drove up the mountainside from the end of Page Road to scope the countryside, and soon noted gulls in the fields southwest of Dewdney, along with large flocks of Canada Geese and at least 225 swans that were streaming in from Hatzic Lake. I also noted numerous small groups of gulls drifting upriver so I assumed that many gulls were moving that direction (toward Chilliwack) today.

By the time I arrived at the Dewdney field, a good portion of the gulls were gone and those that remained were ignoring a freshly manured field nearby. So I continued east on Hwy 7 and did a complete tour around Nicomen Island, where there are extensive pastures. I found several flocks of gulls, particularly a large one at McDonald Road & Nicomen Truck Road where extensive manure spreading was occurring. When I returned to the Dewdney field, there were very few gulls left. I then checked the fields along Hawkins-Pickle Road, east of Dewdney, finding a few small flocks, and did a tour all around Hatzic Prairie, finding no gulls at all in the fields, and very few at the north end of Hatzic Lake.

I next went to the north end of Gladwin Road in Matsqui Prairie and walked the dyke trail to scope out the large flocks of gulls strung out along the south shore of Matsqui Island. Among the wigeon flocks were 2 Eurasian Wigeon males. Finally I went back to the Page Road sandbar around mid afternoon to find several hundred gulls there again. Among them was the Slaty-backed.

But nowhere did I find the Ivory Gull, though I did find a very strange gull with all-white wings at Lennox Road on Nicomen Island. I have no idea how to upload photos to this site. Maybe I can email them to Gord and he can put them up, if anyone's interested in seeing them.

Stan Olson
Abbotsford

[Dave]

Here are Stan's pictures,

[Dave]

Hi Stan,

I am interested in that Slaty-backed Gull as I am perhaps the only one who failed to see Gord's famous guy last winter. How do I get to that sandbar area. Has it been hanging around that general area? Advice? Comment?

Dave

P.S. I 'borrowed' your pictures for you off bcvanbirds.

[Gord]

Stan, great report. Glad to hear someone spent some time exploring the surround.

I'd guess that the gull is a mew gull, mostly albino. Goofy coloured legs!

Maybe it's a Mediterranean Gull...the white wing tips work!! www.birder.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/Med%20Gull%20210204.jpg

[Deleted]

Thanks for putting my photos on the list, Dave. Someday I will have to learn how.

The Slaty-backed Gull could show up anywhere gull flocks appear, which we all know is not easy to predict. Today I saw it on the large sandbar in the middle of the Fraser between Hatzic and Sumas Mountain.

This is best viewed from the river bank at the east end of Page Road. From the Abbotsford-Mission Highway (#11) go east at the light on Harris, then north (left) on Bell, and east (right) on Page. Follow Page Road to its east end (with a slight jog at Beharrell Rd) but don't turn right to cross the RR and head up Sumas Mountain, instead turn left along the dyke and shortly there's a parking lot on the right. The path leaves from the far end of the parking lot next to the outhouse. The river bank is only a few steps away. Finding this spot is easy. Finding the gull at home on the bar may not be so easy.

My hunch is that many of the gulls use the sandbar for a night roost. They will be gone first thing in the morning, but by late afternoon they are congregating again. I saw it around 4:00 p.m. Just scan the flock and hope it is in sight.

Incidentally, you might think, as I did, that the sandbar could also be seen from the dykes on the opposite side of the river. Forget it, there is no access to that portion of the dykes.

I hope you get a chance to see it. It's a striking bird, with its fierce look and big glaring yellow eyes.

Stan