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Franklin's Gulls feeding on the abundant shad
and smelt in the tailrace of Oahe Dam
August 2010, Oahe Dam tailwaters near Pierre, SD
 



This one has a gizzard shad. Thousands
of gizzard shad are in the tailrace.

Snatching a dead smelt from surface, smelt are
coming through the dam, stunned or dead.



This gull has just picked up a smelt. See the sequence of images
as it drops the fish.  I've seen some of the
juvenile gulls do this with one fish many times.




Ring-billed Gulls are more pugnacious


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