This adult gull was found on 11-30-08, near a landfill in Tunica Co, Mississippi. It was resting in large flock of Ring-billed Gulls. Distance, rain and clouds made for terrible photos. This bird had me switching back and forth on multiple IDs hoping for a Mew Gull but the bird just not fill that "bill" or any other species, after getting my computer back from the repair shop and running the photos, I though I had it figured out, and many of my fellow birders reviewed the photos and came to about the same conclusion, the bird was a hybrid between a Ring-billed and either a Franklin's or Laughing Gull. I had missed it but Q. B. Gray had seen the bird raise its wing and commented he had not seen any white on the underwing; that and the bird's size favored Laughing.

I was pretty confident that the bird was a Ring-billed/Laughing hybrid but could not be 100% sure with the poor photos. Then on 12-13-08, after viewing thousands of Ring-bills at 3 locations, I lucked upon the same bird resting on the bank at Arkabutla Lake, in Desoto Co, MS, some 10 miles from the original sighting. I also saw the underwing and confirmed that both the primaries and secondaries were dark. (TLBA strikes again). Much better photos have been added to the first photos and I think they confirm the ID.