For the third consecutive year, a Slaty Backed Gull was in Marquette! Me and another local birder were looking at Gulls when we found a black backed gull. We weren't sure what it was but it had a broad tertial bar which is good field mark for a Slaty Backed Gull. It flushed and it was pretty far away so we couldn't see the sub-terminal spots or the string of pearls. We then headed to another good gulling spot in hopes of finding it. We found it and it flushed 10 minutes later from an eagle. I wasn't able to get any pictures of it in flight but my friend thought he saw sub-terminal spots.
We kept looking but were unable to find it. The next day it was found by my friend and I was able to get there to see it doing nothing.
After I was there for 45 minutes it finally stretched and we were able to see the string of pearls confirming it a Slaty Backed Gull!
A few people came and saw it and after about a half an hour it flew to South Beach which is a short distance from where we were.
This is how we found it! Bathing in some open water. We walked down to beach and a few more birders came down and flushed all the gulls. It flew by which gave us some good pictures.
