Spent the morning with Isaac along the Thompson River between the downtown area and Tranquille.  We drove around looking for where the gulls were and found a large group at Tranquille.  Most of them flew upriver so we relocated several smaller groups in that area later.  Kamloops is far from a gull hotspot, but at the same time, the area is very underbirded.  We were very happy to get 7 species today including a Glaucous and a Thayers (Iceland).  A big thanks to Isaac for his knowledge of local gull species!

Gull list from today:

Mew Gull – 1. Presumably present in very small numbers but possibly overlooked?  We had 2 the weekend before on the shore of Little Shuswap Lake.  No photo from today.

Ring-billed Gull – 220. Probably the most common gull specie present in the area.

California Gull – 160. Common to the area around this time of year.  Not certain of status in the spring and summer.

Herring Gull – 100.  Common to the area around this time of year.  Not certain of status in the spring and summer.

Thayers Gull (Iceland) – 1.  Presumably present in very small numbers.  We had 1 juv. the weekend before on the south Thompson River near the Lafarge Bridge.

 

Glaucous-winged Gull – 5.  Uncommon and mixed in with Herring Gulls.  Expected to see some at this time of year.

Glaucous Gull – 1 juv.  The best Gull sp. of the day.  A lifer for Isaac and he has birded here for many years now.  He spotted it flying in from the right.  Rare.  Made the BC RBA list.

Some cool comparison pics:

Left to Right in the foreground: California, Thayer’s, Herring

3 ages/stages of molt of California Gull