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

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

Joseph Morlan
Sun May 01 12:01:00 PDT 2005
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    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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