California Gull

The California Gull can be found plentifully up and down the West Coast, but it is also common as far inland as eastern Wyoming and north into the Canadian Prairie provinces. It displays in typical gull fashion, appearing in parking lots, trash dumps and on beaches.

 

Many gull species have a red dot on the lower mandible, but as far as I have found in my bird photography and discovery, this is the only gull that also has a bit of black on the tip of the bill.

 

Gull identification is a subset of birding all its own. I always start with location: what gulls am I likely to find in a particular place then study their characteristics. Take lots of phots and peruse those photos carefully for species.

 

This bird was fairly easy. It was one of only a few mature birds in a flock of juvenile Californias. A few Western Gulls were nearby (larger; pink legs, not yellow) and a couple juvenile Heermann's Gulls. The California also has a dark eye with a very slight red ring.

 

I found this bird on the Pacific side of the Baja Peninsula outside Todos Santos, Mexico.

Done