Vagrant Gulls Suck (Twitching and Dipping)

Graham Barwell and me at Tinchi Tamba Wetlands where the Franklins Gull wasn't.

I am writing this tale following a whirlwind 30 hour unsuccessful twitch last weekend. Most birders refer to an unsuccessful twitch as a ‘dip’, no I do not know why it’s called that. I do not tend to use that word and gratefully, it’s not a word I have needed to use often. But this twitch was for a vagrant gull and as my dear friend, Matt has said, “Vagrant gulls suck.” I say that now as well. So I will, vagrant gulls suck (except for Chuckles, the Venus Bay vagrant Laughing Gull. He did not suck).

No, Chuckles definitely did NOT suck. Here he is with Lynn in July 2016. Great memory of the best of times (from my book, "An Australian Birding Year"- you can buy it)

My first experience dipping whilst twitching a vagrant gull was also a Franklin’s Gull. That tale is told in Chapter 21 of, “An Australian Birding Year”. Robert Shore and I snuck in through the ‘out’ road of the Darwin tip and recycling place (longish story, please read the book) but the gull was no longer there. We gave it a good go as we do. I don’t think it was seen there again. Therefore this would be the second dip on this bird for both Robert and me. Vagrant gulls suck.

I've seen a Franklin's in North America. I drove down to twitch this one on a lake in North Carolina, USA near Chapel Hill. At this point, my Australian list is all that I care about.

This was a proper twitch involving interstate travel, a motel and airplanes. Friday evening, I drove myself into the ‘medium term’, but still fairly dear, parking at the Melbourne airport. Then after a nice, free snack/meal in the Virgin Lounge, including a free non-alcoholic beer, I boarded the plane for Brisbane.

Peroni is a good non alcoholic beer and it was free. 

When I fly, if at all possible, I use Virgin Australia. Everyone has their horror stories about every airline, but personally I am happy with Virgin. Something that I don’t mention much in my writing, is that I have a ‘bad knee.’ How I ended up having a bad knee is also told in “An Australian Birding Year”. It is at the end of Chapter 14, from back in January of 2016. 

A couple of years ago, I was chatting with a Virgin gate attendant, as I do, and I mentioned my knee which at the time was playing-up. She told me to board with the first group. I told her that I was neither handicapped nor disabled, I just occasionally had this knee issue. She said regardless, I should board with the first group. I did and I continue to do that. It takes a LOT of pressure off getting down the corridor, onto the plane and settled into my seat. 

Last Friday evening, I was chatting with the Virgin gate attendant again as I do. When the boarding began, I went to have my iPhone boarding pass scanned and the other gate attendant handed me a paper one saying, “we moved you up front.” I was in Row 2 premium economy with heaps of leg room and an entire row to myself. Once again, thank you Virgin! Those attendants were so nice. 

It truly is the people that ‘make’ a company. Interacting with other humans and ‘connecting’ seems to be appreciated more and more these days. Possibly because it happens less and less. Almost everything nowadays is done online or through an app. I scanned myself into the parking with my phone. I booked parking and the flights online. I checked-in online. Too much of the world now is done without human contact. I prefer human contact. And whenever I can, I will talk with a person to get something done.

Should be the last photo in this group. Brisbane at night is colourful.

2A! By the way, the order on these photos is reversed, but that is how this crap blog site 'works' now. But you see the pictures. 

Back to the vagrant gull. As we arranged, I was met by my old birding pal Robert Shore and newer old birding pal, Graham Barwell when I came off the plane. Their flights (from Canberra and Sydney respectively) had arrived before mine. None of us had checked bags.

We hopped into a taxi to go to our motel. We had booked rooms at a decent little motel about 15 minutes from the airport and about 10 minutes from the Tinchi Tamba Wetlands carpark when we thought we were going to have to hire a vehicle. However my dear friend, Matt Wright, had called me the day before and offered to drive me (us) when he heard that I was going to go for the gull. Thank you Matt for the rides as well as for your excellent company. Bird or no bird, we did have some fun.

Bathroom mirror selfie in the motel. I am not a loner, but far too often, I have to be.

A power strip on the chair by the bed, even my hearing aids need to plug-in over night

The Franklin's Gull at Tinchi Tamba Wetlands turned out to be a 'three day wonder'. No one had seen it since Thursday 1 February. On Saturday 3 February, Matt picked us up at the motel at 4:45am (I got up at 3am and coffeed hard) so that we could be out where the gull had most often been seen by daybreak. It was an over two kilometre walk to the spot and we were out there before anyone else. There was no Franklin’s Gull and not even many Silver Gulls nor Crested Terns, the Franklin’s had been associating with both of those birds.

  

Waiting, looking, sitting on the edge of an old cement water tank. Me, Graham and Robert

My favourite photo of the trip. Matt on a small sandy area looking very Zen.

      

After several hours of no success, we walked back to the vehicle. Matt drove us around to the other side of the river to Dohles Rocks and the Osprey House, vantage points from where it had also be seen a couple of times. It was not there either but we did meet up with Clint Hook and his son Jake who had also come up hoping for the gull. As I write these words on Tuesday 6 February, no one has reported seeing it since Thursday 1 February. Vagrant gulls suck.

Matt and I waited and visited in the shade. At that point, I truly believed the gull was gone and it seems that it was and still is.

One of the absolute highlights of the trip was when Matt picked up his delightful partner, Jazz at the airport. I had not seen her since Kutini-Payamu in January 2023. I got to say hi and get a hug before she and Matt left and Robert, Graham and I headed into the terminal. 

I did not go to the Virgin Lounge in Brisbane. This was my dinner. I self-catered in the airport 🤣

Once again Virgin really came through and offered to move me into a seat near the front with a whole row to myself. I was exhausted and I lay down and was able to stretch out and nap a little, That is so rare.

Sunset as we are getting close to the Melbourne area. 

Speaking of rare, the flight was also about fifteen minutes ahead of schedule! Yes, ahead! So I was in the car driving out of the parking garage at the time I had thought I would be landing. I got home just past 10pm. 

It turned out that the camaraderie was truly the best part of the trip. In the future, I will wait for any vagrant gulls to come down to the WTP across the street. But... there is a vagrant plover in Katherine right now and it has been there for a couple of weeks, however the issue of money rears its grotesque head. We will see...

Sending love as I do ❤️