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ABA Photo Quiz

ABA Online Bird Photo Quiz 70

Answer

Bird Photo

[+] Click Image for Larger Version

As nearly all respondents got the quiz bird to the correct family, we'll start with the valid assumption that the beastie is a gull. Various characters tell us that the bird is not an adult (oh, joy!), among these the black bill, black on the tail, distinct black on the head, black on the primary coverts, and a wingtip pattern that is not well-defined. The fairly distinct black on the head should move us into the small, hooded gulls. The bird's bill, while fairly small, is still too big for our bird to be attributable to Ross's, Little, or Bonaparte's gulls. The fact that the black on the head forms a fairly distinct half-hood rules out all of the ABA-area rarities such as Black-headed and Gray-hooded gulls (these species have much less black on the head at this bird's age), leaving us with just Laughing and Franklin's to consider. In fact, our bird's black legs would do the same job of eliminating contenders as most all of the above.

Separating Franklin's and Laughing gulls in first-cycle plumage can be greatly enhanced by a good view of the precise tail pattern, as the tail band on Laughing Gull extends to the outer webs of the outermost rectrices, whereas that of Franklin's Gull does not. However, our view is not particularly conducive to sorting that feature out, so we'll have to look elsewhere. In fact, we'll move to those even-longer extremities known as wings and pay particular attention to the wingtip pattern, on both the upper and under sides. Laughing Gull has an extensively black wingtip, with the entire upper and lower surfaces of the outer four (at minimum) primaries and lacks white tips to all but the innermost primaries.

I took this picture of a Franklin's Gull in formative plumage at Jumbo Reservoir, Logan Co., CO, on 11 August 2007. Other features supporting an ID of Franklin's Gull include the black half hood, the wide white trailing edge to the wing, and the obvious white tip to the tail.

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The following people (listed by submission date beginning with the earliest) submitted correct answers for the January Bird Photo Quiz—Franklin's Gull:

  1. Sam Burckhardt, Chicago, IL
  2. Joel Such, Lyons, CO
  3. Brendan Fogarty, Hempstead, NY
  4. Wil Domke, Miami, FL
  5. David Bell, Sault Ste. Marie, ON
  6. Grant Rettig, Tiffin, OH
  7. John Hammond, Durham, North Carolina
  8. Nathan Swick, Chapel Hill, NC
  9. Chris West, Richland Center, WI
  10. Rich Swartzentruber, Salem, Oregon
  11. Rick Poulin, Ottawa, Ontario
  12. Jim Mountjoy, Galesburg, IL
  13. Adam Betuel, Kissimmee, FL
  14. Stijn Cooleman, Jabbeke, BELGIUM
  15. Nicholas Newberry, Oakton, VA
  16. Jacob Drucker, New York, NY
  17. Linda Hoffman, Springville
  18. Laure W. Neish, Penticton, BC Canada
  19. Tucker J. Lutter, Bronson, IA
  20. Barb Duncan, Jefferson City, MO
  21. Felipe Guerrero, Arlington, Virginia
  22. Wes Serafin, orland park il
  23. Robin LaFortune, Delano, MN
  24. Sarah J. Zastrow, Riverdale, MD
  25. Mary E. Zastrow, Riverdale, MD
  26. Colin Gjervold, Wesley Chapel, FL
  27. Eddie Ehrman, Southgate, Ky
  28. Matt Pike, Lacey, WA
  29. Michael Lester, Haworth, NJ
  30. Joan Lucas, Wilson, WY
  31. Thomas Hall, Livermore, CO
  32. Kari Williams, Milwaukee, WI
  33. Ethan Kistler, Newton Falls, OH
  34. Robert Lockett, Portland, Oregon
  35. Xinyu Zhu, Vancouver, BC
  36. Jennie MacFarland, Tucson, AZ
  37. Daryll Myhr, Kelowna,BC,Ca
  38. Holly Sweeney, Amherst, NY
  39. Greg Lawrence, Rochester, NY
  40. Philip Kline, Tucson, AZ
  41. Logan Kahle, San Francisco, CA
  42. Anthony H. Bledsoe, Pittsburgh, PA
  43. John Kuenzli, Columbus, OH
  44. Jen Vieth, Hastings, MN
  45. Ian Davies, Medford, MA
  46. Steve Hampton, Davis, CA
  47. Graham Etherington, Norwich, England
  48. John Gluth, Brentwood, NY
  49. Josh Southern, Raleigh, NC
  50. Andre Moncrieff, Berrien Springs, MI
  51. Pat Paternostro, Uniontown, Ohio
  52. Daroczi J. Szilard, Tg.-Mures, Romania
  53. Kevin Kerr, Guelph, ON
  54. Steve Arlow, Rochford, Essex, England
  55. Lee Barnes, Seattle, WA
  56. Aaron Bilyeu, Placerville, CA
  57. Eric Sibbald, Upper Saddle River, New Jersey
  58. Duane Troyer, Leesburg,Ohio
  59. Erika Patenaude, Newport, RI
  60. Mary Ann Hoeffliger, Shumway, Illinois
  61. Alan Dupuis, Cambridge, NY
  62. Terri Everett, Big Rapids, MI
  63. Abram Fleishman, Prescott, AZ
  64. Thomas Hopkins, St. Petersburg, FL
  65. Joe Delesantro, Mays Landing, NJ
  66. George F. Cresswell, Colorado Springs, CO
  67. Christopher Mortensen, Langhorne, PA
  68. Myles Falconer, Lakefield, ON
  69. Brian E. Small, Los Angeles, CA
  70. Scott Baughman, Sheboygan, WI
  71. Joyce Fraser, Kelowna, BC
  72. Lyn Imperial, Middletown, DE
  73. Larry Kline, Fredericksburg, VA
  74. Henry Trombley, Bristol, VT
  75. John Bissell, Grimes, Iowa
  76. Jimmy Warren, Schwenksville, PA
  77. Kevin Welsh, Novi, Mi
  78. Ed Harper, Carmichael, CA
  79. Tayler Brooks, Brier, WA
  80. Karen Rubinstein, New York, NY
  81. Kevin Kincaid, WA
  82. Jeff Moore, Roanoke, IN
  83. Urs Geiser, Woodridge, Illinois
  84. Ben Griffon, Richmond, VA
  85. Robert Packard, Riverside, CA
  86. Michael Cannon, Mount Prospect, Illinois
  87. Brad Wilkinson, Tallmadge, OH
  88. Jonah Joffe, Wynnewood, PA
  89. Pieter van der Luit, Amsterdam, the Netherlands
  90. Gustave J. Yaki, Calgary, AB, Canada
  91. Susan Kritzik, Portola Valley, CA
  92. Jill Kaminski, Naples, FL
  93. Jon Atwood, Keene, NH
  94. Liis Veelma, Winnipeg MB
  95. Greg Tito, Richmond, VA
  96. Gary W. Potter, Sanger, California
  97. Jonathan Lautenbach, Grand Rapids, MI
  98. Su Snyder, Wooster, OH
  99. Chip Clouse, Colorado Springs. CO
  100. Mike Miller, Chicago, IL
  101. Megan Rasmussen, Sudbury, Ontario
  102. Andy Dettling, Canton, MI
  103. sam, seattle, WA
  104. Jeff Cole, Xalapa, Veracruz
  105. Patty McKelvey, Sheffield Village, Ohio
  106. Marschal Fazio, CA
  107. Olivier Barden, Quebec City, Qc
  108. Mike Wasilco, Scottsville, NY
  109. gerald j brow, Cedar Michigan
  110. John Arnett, El Mirage, AZ
  111. John Brush Jr., Mattituck, NY
  112. Dave Tietjen, Huntsville, AL
  113. Justyn Stahl, San Clemente Island, CA
  114. Claude Auchu, La Pocatière, Québec
  115. Brandon Percival, Pueblo West, Colorado
  116. Thomas Snetsinger, Brownsville, OR
  117. Paul Whiteman, London UK
  118. Eric Antonio Martinez, Oaxaca, Mexico
  119. Chris Sloan, Nashville, TN
  120. Greg Schrott, Sebring, FL
  121. Kevin Cassel, Libertyville, Illinois
  122. Corey Husic, Kunkletown, PA
  123. Mark Cranford, Mississauga, ON
  124. Orrin Harvey, Tucson, AZ
  125. Clifford Miles, Mountain Lakes, NJ
  126. Justin Bosler, Baton Rouge, LA
  127. Al Guarente, Media, Pa
  128. Andrew Fayer, Fort Washington, PA
  129. Mike Fialkovich, Pittsburgh, PA
  130. Linda Swanson, San Francisco, CA
  131. Charles Rossa, Manassas, Va
  132. Scott Angus, Bangor, PA
  133. S Angus, Bangor, PA
  134. Ben Coulter, Etna, PA
  135. Erik Peã'aloza, Guadalajara Jal Mexico
  136. Marlene Jay Cashen, Veradale, Washington
  137. Brad Sparks, Reynoldsburg, OH
  138. Julie Desmeules, Quebec city, Quebec
  139. Lisa Hainey, Arlington, WA
  140. Grant McCreary, Cumming, GA
  141. Travis Cooper, San Diego, CA
  142. Ana Komro, West Bend, WI
  143. Radd Icenoggle, Bozeman, MT
  144. Mike Burrell, Heidelberg, Ontario
  145. Carolyn Broussard, Carencro, LA
  146. Jim Kopitzke, Mesa AZ
  147. Mike Gurr, Toronto, Canada
  148. Stu Wilson, Austin, TX
  149. Thomas Collins, Pittsfield, Ma.
  150. Chuck Carlson, Ft. Peck MT
  151. Owen McMurtrey, Chicago, IL
  152. Greg Zupansic, Eugene, Oregon
  153. Robert Doster, Albuquerque, NM
  154. Jamie Glydon, Cedar Knolls, NJ
  155. Ben Young, Kalispell, MT
  156. Shaun Hicks, Morrisville, Pennsylvania
  157. Chris Warren, San Marcos, TX
  158. Matthew Schneider, Silverton, Oregon
  159. David A Clark, Norfolk, Va
  160. Joel Mundall, Loma Linda, CA
  161. Eddie Mundall, Yreka, CA

How Did You Compare?

As stated in the quiz rules, answers must consist simply of the Common or English name exactly as it appears in the ABA Checklist.

The following list shows the number of submissions for each species guessed.

Franklin's Gull
161
Laughing Gull
58
Black-legged Kittiwake
4
Herring Gull
2
Bonaparte's Gull
1
California Condor
1
Gray-hooded Gull
1
Heermann's Gull
1
Little Shearwater
1
Sabine's Gull
1
Western Gull
1

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The photo and answer for this quiz were supplied by Tony Leukering.