Hi,

When I am looking at these pictures, I am noticing field marks suitable for
a CALIFORNIA GULL. Here are my reasonings:

1. As you can see in Chris Swan's pictures here (
https://www.flickr.com/photos/100129144@N03/14907587127/) with the
Ring-billed Gulls around the dark-backed gull, it looks very similar in
size to those surrounding gulls. A Western Gull is very close to the same
size as a Herring Gull, which is noticeably much larger. Looking at both
links to the pictures, this black-backed gull definitely does not look that
big.

2. If you look at the markings on the bill, it shows a solid black tip,
with a red dot on the bottom of the bill. Based on my field guides I am
looking at right now (Peterson North America and Sibley Western Birds),
both clearly show a California Gull with both the black and red markings.
However, a Western Gull shows only a sold red dot.

Overall, I am  calling this a CALIFORNIA GULL. I would like to hear others'
reasonings on this, so feel free to post!


On Sun, Aug 31, 2014 at 8:01 PM, Shawn Collins <[log in to unmask]>
wrote:

> I have posted photos of the Lesser Black Backed Gull...but we all were
> scratching our heads today because it has PINK legs.  I posted photos and 2
> people told me it was a Western Gull.   I'm no Gull Expert and if Anyone
> can help w/ the ID..
>
> Pics are here
> https://www.flickr.com/photos/pghdjshawn/
>
> I have them labeled as "Lesser Black Back Gulls"  From today at Conneaut
>
> Thanks!
>
> Shawn Collins
> Crawford County PA
>
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--
Cole DiFabio

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