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Franklin's Gull
- To: Carolina Birds <carolinabirds@duke.edu>
- Subject: Franklin's Gull
- From: Shantanu Phukan <phukan@email.unc.edu>
- Date: Fri, 17 Dec 1999 18:42:00 -0500 (EST)
- Sender: carolinabirds-owner@acpub.duke.edu
I just made a birding trip to Fort Fisher. As usual it was lovely out
there; and as usual there were plenty of gulls to keep me humble. One of
these was, I am hoping, a Franklin's Gull.
It was in with a group of Ring Bills in the parking lot of the
Ferry to Southport. I noticed an evenly gray mantle and back, white
eye-crescents, a more-than-token hood, dark (almost black) beak and legs,
a smaller size than the ring-bills and black primaries tipped unmistakably
and very clearly with white. The hood on its head was definitley more
pronounced than in the Laughing Gulls in winter plumage. But then i
started to think that the illustration in the guide does not account for
individual differences, and the hood, I imagine, fades during the winter
in as many ways as there are individuals. Nonetheless, when I saw the
white-tipped primaries I jumped for joy for the guide does not show the
laughing gull as having these.
But then i looked at John Fussel and my heart sank. He lists the
Franklin's gull as being accidental anywhere on the coast except the outer
Banks. And i was not quick enough to notice the shape of the head and
compare it to that of the Laughing Gull's.
SO, my question to you all is this: Are those white-tips ont he
black primaries diagnostic for the Franklin's Gull or are there Laughng
Gulls in winter plumage that also show these?
And exactly how rare is the Franklin's gull in the Fort Fisher
area in December?
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SHANTANU PHUKAN
Lecturer in Urdu-Hindi & Indian Literature
University of N. Carolina, Chapel Hill
Curriculum in Asian Studies
Alumni Hall 413C
Chapel Hill, N.C. 27599
phukan@email.unc.edu
919-962-6825
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