Kaufman's and the American Museum of Nat. Hist. both say a California
Gull has greenish yellow legs not pink and a red eye ring, but show a
2nd winter Western Gull with the dark ring on the bill.

On 8/31/2014 8:25 PM, Cole DiFabio wrote:
> 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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