Franklin's Gull in St. Louis County
2010-09-16

Uncommon in St. Louis County in the Fall season

First-cycle Franklin's Gull (Leucophaeus pipixcan) at Park Point Recreation Area, Duluth, 16 September 2010. This individual has been seen on the ballfields for two consecutive days between 5:00 and 6:00 P.M. This species is a rare migrant at Duluth. Characters useful for the elimination of same-aged Laughing Gull (L. atricilla) that are visible in this image include bill size and shape (longer and drooping near the tip in atricilla), relatively clean white breast (extensively grayish-brown on atricilla, especially the sides of the breast), and mostly whitish underwing (mottled wing linings and darker underside of remiges on atricilla). In flight, it showed a narrow, incomplete black tail band that did not extend across the outermost rectrices. Its small size in comparison to hundreds of Ring-billed Gulls (Larus delawarensis) was also obvious. This individual showed much more gray in its mantle compared to the juvenile Franklin's photographed the previous day.

This image more clearly depicts the underwing pattern and replaces a previously uploaded image of the same individual taken the previous day. Digital image by Peder H. Svingen.