[EBB Sightings] Franklin's Gull on Saturday afternoon, 4/30

I wonder also if the bill is just a different shade of red than Sibley 
shows--my husband and I observed the Lake Merritt Franklin's Gull at length 
Friday evening from just a few feet away, and I would describe the bill's 
overall color as a darker red or magenta.
Joan Bernstein

-----Original Message-----
From:	Joseph Morlan [SMTP:jmorlan at ccsf.edu]
Sent:	Sunday, May 01, 2005 12:03 PM
To:	Hilary Powers
Cc:	ebbsightings
Subject:	Re: [EBB Sightings] Franklin's Gull on Saturday afternoon, 4/30

On Sun, 01 May 2005 11:03:23 -0700, Hilary Powers 
wrote:

>Eugenia Larson wrote:
>> As reported, the Franklin's Gull was at Lake Merritt on Saturday
>> afternoon, April 30th.  ... It is a full adult with pinkish wash on
>> the breast.
>Thanks for the picture! It confirms what I thought - this gull's beak is
>a whole lot darker than the one Sibley pictures. Individual variation?
>Subspecies? Bad print job in my book?

It looks very much like the bird I saw in San Francisco last weekend.  The
red on its bill was also barely visible.

Another photo at:

http://fog.ccsf.edu/~jmorlan/frgu.htm

...seems to show a dark bill.

I suspect the bright red bill shown in some field guides may be ephemeral
and perhaps only at the height of the breeding season.  A similar
phenomenon is known to occur with the bill of Roseate Tern.

--
Joseph Morlan, Pacifica, CA 94044  jmorlan (at) ccsf.org
Birding Classes in SF start Feb.8  http://fog.ccsf.edu/~jmorlan/
California Bird Records Committee  http://www.wfo-cbrc.org/cbrc/
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