This is about as rare as it gets for birds and photography in my area. Sabine's Gulls are pelagic, arctic nestling birds that are considered very rare migrants in my area. They don't show up every year and when they do show up they are never found walking around on mudflats within camera range like this. This is a bird that lives its life at sea and its pelagic life history influences its behavior when found inland like this, encouraging the bird away from shore and to a distance over water where even a spotting scope strains to resolve identifying detail. To see a Sabine's Gull up close like this is a once in a lifetime event and it attracted crowds of people onto the mudflats this morning eager to get a glimpse or a photo of this extraordinary bird. Nobody left disappointed.
 
For some out on the mudflats this morning this was their first Sabine's Gull ever. This was my third (I had been lucky to spot the previous two that have showed up in my area in recent years). But for everybody this was the first time seeing one up close. Even people with a lifetime of experience chasing birds across the continent have not encountered a Sabine's Gull up close like this. It was a day to remember!