Franklin's Gull at Kincardine

 Two days ago (Sept 15th) Dustin Young found a Franklin's Gull at the Kincardine Harbour. This bird represents the 2nd record for Bruce County, with the first coming from the same location in 2014.

I was down to check it out the following morning and arrived at the harbour mid-morning. I dipped on the gull unfortunately, but there were 2 Black-bellied Plovers on the pier..

That evening the bird was refound, which made missing it earlier in the day even worse! The gull was only seen after 6pm on both days, when it would come in with the large flocks of Ring-billed Gulls that feed in farm fields all day. There are numerous fields favoured by gulls in the area, so I felt it would a better idea to go to the harbour in the evening and wait for it to come in.

I arrived shortly after 5pm this evening and joined a few local birders in the search. We scanned the gulls for at least a hour and a half and didn't see the bird in question. I did find a Great Lakes Gull though (herring x great black-backed hybrid), which was kind of cool. 

It was just before 7pm and we were getting rather desperate, when Bob Taylor spotted Frank land on the end of the pier. Success! I walked down to the path adjacent the gull and rattled off a few photos before a boat flushed everything. This was my first Bruce lifer since June, so I was pretty stoked see this western species.. and I really didn't want to dip twice ;)

Some of the better pictures below