After we left the Yellow-billed Loon at Lake Henry, we visited Gavin's Point Dam. This is the dam for Lewis and Clark Lake, which spans the Nebraska and South Dakota border in the northeastern part of Nebraska. Some interesting gulls had been seen there, so decided to check the spillway. Upon arriving, we quickly spotted the previously report first-cycle Glaucous Gull, flying around the spillway. While there, we noticed Lincoln, NE birder Michael Willison across the spillway from us watching the gulls too. Finding no more interesting gulls at the spillway, we went to Lake Yankton, which is 0.2 miles northeast of the spillway. There were several resting flocks of gulls on the lake. Soon after our arrival, Michael showed up and we all scoped the gulls. In one flock, we found the first-cycle Thayer's Gulls.
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| Thayer's Gull |
We watched it for several minutes before it flew into South Dakota. We all then returned to the south side of the spillway to watch the gulls before we had to leave. The first-cycle Glaucous Gull returned to the spillway while we were there.
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| Glaucous Gull |
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| Glaucous Gull |
After several minutes, the Thayer's Gull joined the gulls flying around the spillway from the dam's power plant.
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| Thayer's Gull |
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| Thayer's Gull |
These pictures illustrate the "two-toned" primaries, dark secondaries, and dark tail band well.
We watched for 5 more minutes hoping for the California Gull or the Thayer's/Iceland Gull to show up but neither of them did.
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