Laughing Gulls and Ring-billed gulls

     For a couple of hours on the afternoon of September 12, 2016, I was in a public park in Northeast, Maryland to experience birds that would be along the Northeast River in the northeast corner of Chesapeake Bay.  The park lies where the Northeast River changes from creek size to inundated river size at the top of the bay.  In that short amount of time on September 12, I saw two dozen double-crested cormorants perched on dead trees fallen into that broad river, a few great blue herons stalking fish in the river's shallows, a few herring gulls and great black-backed gulls floating on the river, and one each of belted kingfisher, osprey and bald eagle, all of which were there to hunt various-sized fish, depending on the species.  And I saw hundreds of post-breeding laughing gulls and their brownish young of the year flocked together and mixed with scores of immature ring-billed gulls on the broad Northeast River.  Adult laughing gulls no longer had black feathering on their heads that indicate breeding readiness.
     As I watched the many laughing gulls and ring-billed gulls on the broad part of Northeast River, a few individuals of each kind left the wide water and, gracefully, but swiftly, flew by me in the park, around a bend in the narrow, creek-sized part of the river and out of sight.  Then another mixed flock, and another went by me and around the bend as though following an aerial pathway.  Curious as to what those gulls were doing, I walked upstream along the creek-sized river.  The tide was going out and those gulls were swirling lightly into the wind for better flight control and landing daintily in inch-deep water and a mid-water mud flat, presumably to rest and digest.  Crack willow, red maple and silver maple trees, and patches of ten-foot-tall phragmites gave a shoreline backdrop to the gulls, that narrow part of the river and its mud flats.         
     I quietly took a seat on a park bench with my 16 power binoculars to study the two gull species about 30 yards away in the narrow section of the Northeast River.  They were so close, I could hear soft, seemingly conversational notes uttered by the multitudes of laughing gulls.  And the whole time I sat on that bench, one mixed flock of dozen or more gulls, after another, after another, every few minutes, floated down to a gentle landing on the mud flats and the shallows around them.  The groups of gulls expertly dropped among their fellows already perched on the water and mud without collision, making an exciting, inspiring show of themselves that was enjoyable to watch.  The mixed flock of those gulls grew and grew as time went by, the laughers murmuring among themselves.  And they were still there when I moved on. 
     The ring-bills and adult laughers were mostly gray and white, which camouflages them on sandy beaches and water.  The immature laughing gulls, however, were mostly brown and white, which allows them to blend into their salt marsh habitats where they hatched, and distinguishes them from their elders. 
     Laughing gulls and ring-billed gulls have much in common.  They are about the same size, adaptable, abundant and get food from natural habitats, including beaches, mud flats, salt marshes and larger bodies of salt, brackish and fresh water.  They also feed on earthworms and other kinds of invertebrates in plowed fields, and on cast-off people food on parking lots and in dumpsters.
     Laughing gulls nest in salt marshes along America's ocean shores while ring-bills raise young around the Great lakes, the St. Lawrence River and some of the lakes in interior Canada, which means these species don't mix much in summer, reducing competition for food to feed their young.  However, while laughing gulls winter along the coasts of the southern United States, the Caribbean and Mexico down to South America, some ring-bills also winter along the coasts of the United States, meaning these gull species overlap during fall, winter and spring when they often form mixed flocks.
     The mixed gatherings of laughing and ring-billed gulls resting on mud flats and shallows in the creek-sized part of Northeast River where it enters the broad section of river at the top of Chesapeake Bay were a pleasure to experience so close to shore.  It's natural happenings like this that help make life more inspiring and enjoyable.