Meredith,
I hope it didn't sound like I was being critical of your sighting as it
was very plausible to have this bird and by your desrciption you certainly
did. I was just looking for some of the more obvious marks of Franklin's,
like the head,bill and eye-ring mentioned below, thanks.

Scott Downes
sdownes at u.washington.edu
Seattle WA

"Birds don't read bird books. (That's why they are seen doing things they
are not supposed to do)." -Mary Wood


On Fri, 18 Jun 1999, Richard D. Spencer wrote:

> Tweeters: Sorry I didn't mention more in my first post. But here goes our
> theory: Only 2 , black-headed gulls to choose from. in our area:
> Bonapartes and Franklin's. The gulls we were looking at ( 3 adults and one
> not) had black heads, red bills and legs that looked dark, but they were in
> pretty deep mud. The white semi-circles around eyes were obvious. And,
> when one flew we could see the grey area in the center of the tail. Does
> that help? Thanks for all the replies. Meredith
>
>
> Meredith and Dave Spencer
> merdave at televar.com
>
>
>