Just before, and as the lake was filling, those of us who live near Chestermere Lake were treated to a very loud and insistent noise–pretty much day and night. It was the Franklins Gulls (Larus pipixcan). The birds winter in Chile and Peru and South America, and migrate 8000 km up to Alberta, where they make their floating nests on marshes and lakes from here up into the north of Alberta and Saskatchewan. Unlike other gulls, it has two molts each year to make sure feathers are strong for the long migratory flight. By August they are heading south again. They are striking medium sized gulls, with black heads, white bodies, dark legs and red bill during breeding season. This bird was named for Arctic explorer Sir John Franklin where the first specimen was taken on his 1825 expedition. Early settlers named it the Prairie dove. They are the farmer’s friend, following the tractor in the field eating cutworms and other insects which might harm the crop. Although they usually don’t fly in flocks (a flock of gulls is a flotilla) they will congregate as they did her in Chestermere during migration and when there is sufficient food. A record of 75,000 was reported at Frank Lake near High River years ago, and I suspect it was close to that number seen wheeling and winging over the lake dipping in to pick up a bug or catching them on the fly. And what were they eating? I believe it was a hatching of midges, or more formally, Chironomids, which look a bit like large mosquitoes with very fuzzy antennae. When these midges are swarming you can hear a buzz in the air! With this influx of visitors this spring it brings to mind how important our lake is as an ‘oasis’ not just for us but for the many birds who find our wetland a permanent, or like Franklin’s Gull, a temporary home.
