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Juvenile gull (1 Viewer)
- Thread starter jimk
- Start date
James Eaton
Trent Valley Crew
This is a juvenile Franklin's Gull, with two adults in the background
Joern Lehmhus
Well-known member
def no Sabines,
heres a pic of a juv Sabines for comparison:
http://www.somersetbirder.fsnet.co.uk/pic005.jpg
Juv. Sabines would look much more "scaly" on the back than the gull on your photo... I guess the others are right calling this a juv Franklins (no experience with that species)
heres a pic of a juv Sabines for comparison:
http://www.somersetbirder.fsnet.co.uk/pic005.jpg
Juv. Sabines would look much more "scaly" on the back than the gull on your photo... I guess the others are right calling this a juv Franklins (no experience with that species)
Yes, I did wonder. I've no experience of juv. Franklin's either, hence my slight tentativeness. I found it a difficult photo to assess and wasn't at all sure that, with a closer, sharper view, the mantle wouldn't turn out to be scaly after all. Some photos of distant juv. Sabine's on the net don't show the scaliness properly and I thought the primaries in Jim's photo looked a bit long for Franklins. But I'm more than happy to bow to those who know what they're talking about!
Actually, I don't know why I couldn't see it last night, but in daylight it's obvious that the bird has a grey, first-winter mantle developing. That surely rules out Sabine's at this time of year.
Incidentally, can anyone point me towards some photos of juv Franklin's Gull? I couldn't find any on the net.
Actually, I don't know why I couldn't see it last night, but in daylight it's obvious that the bird has a grey, first-winter mantle developing. That surely rules out Sabine's at this time of year.
Incidentally, can anyone point me towards some photos of juv Franklin's Gull? I couldn't find any on the net.
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JANJ
Well-known member
Also the fact that it is moulting the mantle and scapulars (to 1st winter) would indicate a Franklin´s and not a Sabine´s, which doesn´t have any moult until later, and retains it´s juvenile plumage into November/December, and then usually moults complete, while Franklin´s have a partial moult to 1st winter late summer, July to Sept/Oct. Franklin´s Gull is the only Gull that has a complete (body, wings and tail) moult each year. So this Franklin´s would start it´s complete moult to 1st summer at about Jan/Feb-Apr/May.
In the image it looks quite white in front of the eye, there´s usually a more obvious dark mark, and the Hooded effect usually is more obvious as well. The hood gets darker in the moult to 1st winter.
http://www.martinreid.com/frgu05.html
Looka at the Sabine´s nr 5, looks dark hooded.
http://www.utahbirds.org/birdsofutah/BirdsS-Z/SabinesGull2.htm
JanJ
In the image it looks quite white in front of the eye, there´s usually a more obvious dark mark, and the Hooded effect usually is more obvious as well. The hood gets darker in the moult to 1st winter.
http://www.martinreid.com/frgu05.html
Looka at the Sabine´s nr 5, looks dark hooded.
http://www.utahbirds.org/birdsofutah/BirdsS-Z/SabinesGull2.htm
JanJ
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Thanks for all the help folks, especially the links to photos of juv sabines. Those photos are much better than the ones in my books. JANJ - your moulting info is a huge help, now I think I know better what to look for. This pond has a huge group of migrating Franklin's Gulls on it so sifting through them is very tedious.
