The Franklin's gull is a fairly small gull, with a relatively slim short bill, long wings and a short tail. Breeding adults have a black head, white crescents above and below each eye, dark gray upper parts and a reddish bill and legs. Non-breeding adults have a gray half-hood or mask and the bill and legs are dark. In both breeding and non-breeding adults, a white crescent separates the gray upper wing from the black wingtip.
The breeding laughing gull is distinguished by a longer bill that may droop at the tip (the Franklin's gulls bill is straight), and when folded, the wings are almost fully black (without the large white spots of Franklin's).
It breeds in central Canada and the adjacent northern U.S. states. It migrates to Argentina, Chile, Peru and the Caribbean where it winters. It is named after the arctic explorer John Franklin who took the first specimen in an 1823 expedition.
I took these photos at Antelope Island in the Great Salt Lake on July 6, 2020. They were lined up along the aqueduct near where it connects to the island.
I am surprised these are in Utah! I always think of the white seagull as being the only gull in Utah. These are beautiful!
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