Franklin's Gull at D'Arros

Franklin's Gull (Clare Keating Daly, Save Our Seas Foundation - D’Arros Research Centre)

Clare Keating Daly and Ryan Daly have reported what is possibly one of the most astonishing of all Seychelles bird records: A Franklin's Gull at D' Arros on 7 May 2017. This small dove-like gull breeds in inland North America, wintering off the Pacific coast of South America south to Chile. There have been many scattered vagrant records but very few from the African region other than scattered reports almost entirely from from countries bordering the Atlantic coast. This is the first report for the Malagasy region and if accepted by SBRC will be the first record for Seychelles. There has been one other Indian Ocean record, an equally surprising report from Marion Island, southeast of South Africa.

Franklin's Gull (Clare Keating Daly, Save Our Seas Foundation - D’Arros Research Centre)