Today was the Illinois Ornithological Society’s (IOS) Gull Frolic at Winthrop Harbor, which is on Lake Michigan just south of the Wisconsin border. We had never been to one of these things, but expert birders were promised to be on hand, so we figured we get a few animals to add to our list. Gulls are a nightmare. There are something like 27 species and each may have up to 5 plumages (first year, second year, breeding, etc.). And worst of all, a lot of them look the same. So sadly, for birders of our skill level, 27 x 5 = forget it.

The IOS rented the yacht club, where there was food, warmth, and a lot of stuffed gulls from The Field Museum’s collection. I was surprised how big the specimens were. And how soft. And how much they smelled like moth balls. While I was looking at one, an IOS expert approached me, and this exchange took place:

IOS EXPERT: Some of those specimens have been treated with poison, so make sure you wash your hands before eating.
SCRUBB: Don’t worry, I wasn’t planning on eating any of them.
IOS EXPERT: [dull, uncomprehending stare]
SOUND OF DEAD JOKE: Thunk.

I’ve never been in a place with some many spotting scopes. It all looked kind of crazy. There were lots of people who knew more than us, but there were also some who knew less, and that was encouraging. Even though it was freezing out (and windy and snowy), we ended up seeing a lot of birds, some of which we couldn’t have identified without help:

AMERICAN TREE SPARROW
HERRING GULL
COMMON MERGANSER
GREAT BLACK-BACKED GULL
LONG-TAILED DUCK (female)*
THAYER’S GULL*
GLAUCOUS GULL*
LESSER BLACK-BACKED GULL*

Half of these (those with an asterisk) were lifers for us both.

The great black-backed was a juvenile, and we needed quite a bit of help to find it. I think a lot of the beginning birders get discouraged and don’t feel right claiming tricky birds. But if you spend enough time looking at them — and we did — you’re eventually able to recognize their identifying characteristics (or field marks) and tell them apart from others. It just takes time. To be honest, though, Pole and I were both muttering “I hate gulls” during several of these long, freezing inspections.

The Thayer’s Gulls were the trickiest. They look a hell of a lot like the common Herring Gull. The IOS experts were great, though, and would find one in the air and tell you how to get it: “OK it’s banking left . . . now it’s in front of the red light . . . it’s flapping — wait — now it’s gliding . . .” You get the idea. It’s infuriating until you actually spot the bird they’re talking about. At first, you latch on to birds that you have to abandon once their movements or patterns don’t match. But then, as each comment confirms you’re on the right bird, you really feel in the groove and it’s very gratifying. And that’s when you can actually start to study it and learn the field marks.

The highlight of the day was the Glaucous Gull, which is all white and in flight looks — as some IOS guy said — like a “pale ghost”.