Sample Lesson: Gull Identification

(beach sounds)

(music)

(Kevin) A small, black-headed gull of the prairies, the Franklin’s Gull is a common sight
in the interior of North America as it follows plows to eat the worms, insects, and mice that are  exposed.

Franklin’s Gull breeds in central Canada southward to Montana and western Minnesota with a few scattered colonies farther southward.

It winters primarily along the Pacific Coast of South America from central Peru to northern Chile,
with small numbers wintering regularly or occasionally in southern California, the south-central United States, and in Central America.

Franklin’s Gull is a black-hooded gull with an ashy gray back, and its underparts are white. The eyes are blackish with thick white crescents above and below, nearly joining behind the eye. The wingtips are black with large white tips to the outer wing feathers and a white band between the gray and black. From above, the center of the tail is white, smudged with gray.

(whoosh sound)

In breeding adults, the entire head is slaty black, forming a complete hood. The white underparts may have a pink wash, which fades through the breeding season. The bill is dark red with a dark subterminal band and a red or orange tip. The orbital ring is thin and red. The legs are red-orange to blackish-brown.

In nonbreeding adults, the head is white with a blackish half hood. The bill is blackish with a red tip. The legs are brownish black.

Juvenile Franklin’s Gulls have white underneath with a dusky wash on the sides of the neck and sometimes across the breast. The crown, ear region, and nape are dark, dusky gray. The forehead, chin, and throat are white. Like the adults, juveniles have white crescents above and below the eyes. The back and wings are dusky brownish-gray. The tail is pale gray with a black subterminal band that does not include the white outer tail feathers.

(musical note)

It takes Franklin’s Gull about one year to reach full adult plumage.

Juvenile Franklin’s Gulls’ back and wings quickly become gray, although the wings remain brownish for longer than the back before turning to gray. The nape and undersides change from dusky to whitish, so the dark markings on the head appear more like a half-hood than smudgy all over like the juvenile. The gray tail with a black band becomes whitish with gray as the bird matures.

In subadults, there may be some white forming an incomplete band between the gray and
the black in the outer primaries that’s not as bold as the white band seen in the adults.

(gentle waves)

(musical note)

So, what can you confuse it with?

You might confuse Franklin’s Gull with Laughing Gull, although their ranges overlap only
slightly on the western Gulf Coast.

Laughing Gull is slightly larger, with longer wings. Laughing Gull has a longer, thicker, drooping bill and thinner eye crescents than those of the Franklin’s Gull. Laughing Gull has little white in the wingtips, with at most small white spots at the tips of the primaries, quite unlike the bold white primary tips and white band across the wing of Franklin’s Gull.

In nonbreeding plumage, Laughing Gull has a lighter gray and less extensive patch on the back of the head, resembling smudging rather than the Franklin’s’ half hood. The tail is all white, lacking the faint gray center of the Franklin’s’ tail.

Immature Laughing Gull has a darker neck, back, and underparts than Franklin’s Gull, which shows a more defined half hood and cleaner neck and breast. The tail band of immature Laughing Gull is wider and the underwing is mottled, unlike the clean underwing of immature Franklin’s Gull.

(whoosh sound)

Bonaparte’s Gull is smaller with a dainty head and slimmer bill than the Franklin’s Gull. Breeding Bonaparte’s have thin, not thick, white eye crescents and red legs instead of black. The back color of Bonaparte’s is also much lighter than the rather dark back of the Franklin’s.

In flight, Bonaparte’s have an extensive white triangle on the outer wing compared  to the white band across the primaries of the Franklin’s.

Nonbreeding Bonaparte’s have a single black spot behind their eye compared to the dark half hood of the Franklin’s.

(whoosh sound)

(water sounds with light music)