I saw a report of a rare Black-headed Gull found at Sheboygan’s North Point late evening. I got up early and headed to Sheboygan and was there at sun up. After doing some searching at different locations and coming up empty I got a message that there were a lot of Bonaparte Gulls at South Side Municipal Beach. I checked it out and there were a 1,000 gulls there! I messaged a bunch of birding friends that were at North Point and they came over to help in the search. After looking about 45 minutes the gull was found. We all stayed very far away from the gulls as they took a large section of the beach shoreline, not wanting to flush them. It was preening most of the time and hard to spot. All I could capture was one photo from the event but it was enough to make it my 369th Wisconsin life bird. It was a gorgeous morning with temps around 58 degrees, low winds and sunshine. Images were taken on June 13, 2022.
The Black-headed Gull in the middle of the photo with the reddish bill…
A small part of the overall gull population on the beach…
One time a walker flushed the birds, they took to the sky but returned…
In search of the Black-headed Gull…the gulls a long ways away…
Congratulations on your find.