Franklin's Gull
Leucophaeus pipixcan
Medium-sized gull with medium-gray upperparts. Breeding plumage shows black head with thick white eye arcs, large white spots on black wingtips, and deep red bill and legs. White underparts are often tinged with pink. Nonbreeding plumage has partial black hood and dark bill and legs. Juveniles have browner upperparts. Breeds around lakes and marshes in the prairies of north-central North America. Migrates through the center of the continent to and from wintering grounds in South America, where it is primarily found on the coast and offshore. Gathers in huge flocks in migration and winter. Most similar to Laughing Gull, which is slightly larger and lankier with a longer bill. Franklin’s shows thicker eye arcs and larger white spots on wingtips.
Identification
It breeds in central provinces of Canada and adjacent states of the northern United States. It is a migratory bird, wintering in Argentina, the Caribbean, Chile, and Peru.<p>The summer adult's body is white and its back and wings are much darker grey than all other gulls of similar size except the larger laughing gull. The wings have black tips with an adjacent white band. The bill and legs are red. The black hood of the breeding adult is mostly lost in winter.<p>Young birds are similar to the adult but have less developed hoods and lack the white wing band. They take three years to reach maturity.<p>Measurements:
Taxonomy
- Scientific name
- Leucophaeus pipixcan
- Authority
- (Wagler, 1831)
- Order
- Charadriiformes
- Family
- Laridae
- Genus
- Leucophaeus
Range and habitat
Although the bird is uncommon on the coasts of North America, it occurs as a rare vagrant to northwest Europe, south and west Africa, Australia and Japan, with a single record from Eilat, Israel, in 2011 (Smith 2011), and a single record from Larnaca, Cyprus, July 2006. At the beginning of 2017 has been observed also in Southern Romania, southeast Europe.
- Breeding range
- NA : prairie marshes of w, n Alberta and ec Oregon to sw Manitoba (wc, ec Canada) and nw Minnesota
- Non-breeding range
- to w South Pacific coast from Ecuador and Galápagos to c Chile
- Migration
- Complete migrants
Behavior
They are omnivores like most gulls, and they will scavenge as well as seeking suitable small prey. In the spring, on rivers such as the Bow River large groups will float with the current, sipping the emerging insect hatch. The behaviour includes floating through a particular stretch and returning repeatedly to the same section.<p>The birds breed in colonies near prairie lakes with the nest constructed on the ground, or sometimes floating. The two or three eggs are incubated for about three weeks.
Conservation
- Population trend
- rising
Photos
Distribution
Bird Calls
Other Birds
Pirre Warbler
Basileuterus ignotus
This warbler has an extremely limited range near the border of Panama and Colombia. The head pattern is distinctive; look for the bold white eyebrow and reddish crown. Otherwise brownish overall, slightly paler below, with pink legs and bill. Sexes similar. Found in pairs in the understory of humid montane forest from around 1,200–1,650 m, sometimes following mixed-species flocks.
Derbyan Parakeet
Psittacula derbiana
Magnificent green parakeet with a black throat and a purplish breast and belly. Males have a glowing red bill while females have an all-dark one. Overall coloration quite similar to that of Red-breasted Parakeet, which has a pinkish breast instead of a purple one, but ranges do not overlap. Inhabits foothill and montane moist forests, where it forages in large, raucous flocks. Prefers pine woods. Declining due to extensive capture for the cage bird trade.
Long-winged Antwren
Myrmotherula longipennis
Small antwren of understory and midstory of lowland rainforest. Males are dark gray with white wing bars and an extensive black throat patch; females are more geographically variable, but are generally reddish brown above and pale tan below north of the Amazon River, and grayish brown above, light buffy tan below south of the Amazon. Males similar to Ihering’s Antwren, which has a more extensive black throat patch and different voice, and Gray Antwren, which has a smaller black throat patch, or no black on throat at all. Females particularly similar to Gray Antwren south of the Amazon, but usually more evenly-colored; distinguished from female Ihering’s Antwren by lack of wing bars. One of the most common members of mixed species flocks, where can be easily detected by nasal “ee-eww” whines.
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