Bird #326 — Laughing Gull

larus (ravenous seabird) atricilla (from ater, black, and cilla, tail)

Thursday, July 19, 1990 — 5:05 pm

Tybee Island, Georgia — Tybee Lighthouse — Atlantic Ocean

We toured Fort Pulaski in the afternoon, then headed back to Tybee Island, where our hotel was.  We stopped at the Tybee Lighthouse and climbed to the top.  It was a very hot, humid day. It was better up top.  We stood on the deck overlooking the Atlantic Ocean and the Spanish-American War battery below us.  A breeze was blowing up there that made things bearable.

I spotted three Laughing Gulls as they flew by.  They came from the direction of the Savannah River and headed down the beach.  They were below us, and I looked down on them as they flew past.

The next morning I got excellent looks at a large number of them standing in a mixed flock with other gulls and terns just up the beach from the lighthouse.

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