Franklin's Gull

Larus pipixcan

Order CHARADRIIFORMES - Family LARIDAE - Subfamily Larinae

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1. Cool Facts
2. Description
3. Similar Species
4. Sound
5. Range
6. Habitat
7. Food
8. Behavior
9. Reproduction
10. Conservation Status
11. Other Names

A small, black-headed gull of the prairies, the Franklin's Gull is a common sight in the interior of North America, following plows to eat exposed worms, insects, and mice.

Cool Facts

• The Franklin's Gull is unique among gulls in having two complete molts each year rather than one.
• The floating nest of the Franklin's Gull gradually sinks as the material below the water surface decays, and it requires continual maintenance. Both parents add new nest material daily until one or two weeks before departing the colony. Older chicks also add nest material from the immediate vicinity of the nest.

• In breeding plumage, and sometimes in nonbreeding plumage as well, the Franklin's Gull often shows a rosy pink cast (rarely salmon) on its chest and abdomen. This color is most apparent on the shafts and bases of its feathers. The color fades as the breeding season progresses as the pigment is broken down by sunlight.

Description

• Size: 32-36 cm (13-14 in)
• Wingspan: 85-95 cm (33-37 in)
• Weight: 220-335 g (7.77-11.83 ounces)

• Small gull.
• Back ashy gray.
• Underparts white.
• Wingtips black with white tips and a white band.
• Entire head black in breeding season.

• Large white tips to outer wing feathers.
• Tail with except for smudged gray on center of upper tail.
• Eyes blackish.

Breeding (Alternate) Plumage: Head slaty black, forming complete hood. Underparts white, may have pink wash, fading through breeding season. Back ashy gray. Thick white crescents above and below eyes, joining only at rear. Wings gray with large white rear edge, black-and-white tips, and white band between the black and the gray. Bill dark blood red with dark subterminal band and red or orange tip. Ring of skin around eyes rich pink. Legs red-orange to blackish brown.
Nonbreeding (Basic) Plumage: Head white with blackish half-hood on rear. Bill blackish or reddish with red or orange tip. Legs brownish black.

Sex Differences

Sexes look alike; males slightly larger.

Immature

Juvenile: White underneath, with dusky wash on sides of neck and across breast. Crown, ear region, and nape dark dusky gray. Forehead, chin, and throat white. White crescents above and below eyes. Back and wings dusky brownish gray. Tail pale gray with black subterminal band, not including white outer feathers.
First winter (Basic I) Plumage: Back gray, but wings brownish. Head pale with dark half-hood including eyes. Eye crescents thicker, and usually joining at rear. Nape whitish. Underside white. Tail white at base with broad blackish subterminal band not including white outer tail feathers.
First summer (Alternate I) Plumage: Like adult winter.

Similar Species

• Laughing Gull is slightly larger, with longer wings and bill. Laughing lacks a white band between the black primaries and the gray rest of wing, but may have small white spots at the tips of the primaries. In winter plumage, Laughing Gull has a lighter gray and less extensive patch on the back of the head, resembling smudging rather than a half hood. Tail is all white, lacking the gray center of Franklin's.

Sound

Calls nasal and laughing.

»listen to songs of this species

Range

Summer Range

Breeds in central Canada southward to Montana and western Minnesota, with a few scattered colonies farther southward.

Winter Range

Winters primarily along the Pacific Coast of South America from central Peru to northern Chile, with small numbers wintering regularly or occasionally in southern California, the south-central United States, and in Central America.

Habitat

Nests in marshes and along inland lakes. Winters along coast in bays, estuaries, and along sandy beaches.

Food

Insects, earthworms, fish, mice, garbage, seeds.

Behavior

Foraging

Forages while walking or swimming. Forages in dense flocks. Follows plows. Catches flying insects on the wing.

Reproduction

Nest Type

A floating platform of vegetation, placed in thick reeds above water. Nests in colonies.

Egg Description

Greenish brown with dark splotches.

Clutch Size

Usually 1-3 eggs. Range: 1-4.

Condition at Hatching

Semiprecocial with eyes open. Covered in down. Able to stand within a day, but usually remain in nest for three weeks.

Conservation Status

The Franklin?s Gull depends on extensive prairie marshes for breeding, and entire colonies may shift sites from year to year depending on water levels. Once threatened by habitat loss due to large-scale drainage projects and the Dust Bowl years of the 1930s, this species has regained numbers with the creation of large wetlands, mainly on protected national wildlife refuges. Colony shifts continue to occur, however, influenced by drought and fluctuating water levels. Populations appear to be increasing.

Other Names

Mouette de Franklin (French)
Gaviota de Franklin, Gaviotin, Caguil, Caulle, Fardella (Spanish)

Sources used to construct this page:

Burger, J., and M. Gochfeld. 1994. Franklin?s Gull (Larus pipixcan). In The Birds of North America, No. 116 (A. Poole and F. Gill, Eds.). Philadelphia: The Academy of Natural Sciences; Washington, D.C.: The American Ornithologists? Union.