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ABA Online Bird Photo Quiz 56
ANSWER
The overall structure and gray and white plumage of this bird should suggest that we are dealing with a small gull or tern. It's difficult to make out much of the bill, but from what we can see the bill appears fairly thin and black (at least black at the tip). This may lead us to consider terns, but terns should show more pointed wings. Furthermore, the large white tips to the outermost two primaries combined with the overall coloration don't fit any species of tern. This leaves us with several small gulls. The most frequently encountered small gull in most of our region is Bonaparte's Gull. But adults and second-cycle birds have extensive white on the leading edge of the primaries and black trailing edge to the primaries. Black-headed Gull can be eliminated for the same reason. The pale upperparts and broad white trailing edge to the secondaries may call to mind Ross's Gull, but on Ross's Gull the white is limited to the secondaries and inner primaries. The tail also does not appear as graduated, or wedge-shaped, as a Ross's Gull. This leaves us with Little Gull. The broad white trailing edge contrasting with pale gray upperparts is a classic Little Gull field mark. While adults have a completely white trailing edge to the secondaries and primaries, this is often interrupted with black on second-cycle birds. Also note the overall structure of our bird—compared to a Bonaparte's Gull, note this individual's relatively short rounded wings and pudgy body.
This second-cycle Little Gull was photographed in Tompkins County, New York in March 2007.
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The following people (listed by submission date beginning with the earliest) submitted correct answers for the November Bird Photo Quiz – Little Gull:
- Marcelo Brongo, Barcelona, Spain
- Brandon Percival, Pueblo West, CO
- Kevin Kerr, Guelph, ON
- Aaron Hulsey, Smiths Grove, Ky
- Andy Johnson, Ann Arbor, MI
- David Bell, Sault Ste. Marie, ON
- Alan Dupuis, Cambridge, NY
- Lauren B, St Petersburg, FL
- Graham Etherington, Norwich, UK
- Aaron Bilyeu, Placerville, CA
- Amy St.Pierre, Kelly, WY
- Terri Everett, Big Rapids, MI
- Petro Pynnönen, Helsinki, Finland
- Matt Yawney, Chelsea, MI
- James P. Smith, Amherst, MA
- Jim Mountjoy, Galesburg IL
- Gerald J Brow, Cedar Michigan
- Sarah J. Zastrow, Riverdale, MD
- Philip Kline, Tucson, AZ
- Steve Hampton, Davis, CA
- Nathan Swick, Chapel Hill, NC
- Tim Hochstetler, Millersburg OH
- Mark Rosenstein, Cambridge, MA
- Jerry Jourdan, Wyandotte, MI
- Matt Baumann, ABQ,NM
- Thomas Snetsinger, Brownsville, OR
- Brad Wilkinson, Tallmadge, OH
- Richard Garrigues, San Antonio de Belen, Heredia, Costa Rica
- Travis A. Mahan, Decatur, Illinois
- Liis Veelma, Winnipeg MB
- Kara Lewantowicz, Colorado Springs, CO
- Stephen Joly, Kamloops, BC
- Szilard J. Daroczi, Tg.-Mures, Romania
- Joshua Covill, Columbia Falls, MT
- Steve McNamee, Toledo, OH
- Claude Auchu, La Pocatière, Québec
- Owen McMurtrey, Chicago, IL
- Karl Erich Mayer, Saint Clair Shores, Michigan
- Pam Baum, Tucson, AZ
- Benoit Dorion, Saint-Laurent, Quebec, Canada
- Avery Bartels, Nelson, BC
- Bill Maynard, Colorado Springs, CO
- Robert Mottershead, Philadelphia, PA
- Phil Crisp, Winston-Salem, NC
- Malkolm Boothroyd, Whitehorse, Yukon
- Su Snyder, Wooster, OH
- lee Barnes, Seattle, WA
- wendy boothroyd, Whitehorse, Yukon
- John Bissell, Grimes, IA
- Thomas Lechleitner, Fort Lupton, CO
- Aaron Boone, Columbus, Ohio
- Evan Dalton, Kingston, MA
- Matt Pike, Lacey WA
- Jon Atwood, Keene, NH
- George Cresswell, Colorado Springs, CO
- Bennet Porter, Falmouth, MA
- Thomas Hall, Livermore, Colorado
- Joel Mundall, Loma Linda, CA
- Alex Ewing, Rocky Hill, NJ
- Ben Loehnen, New York, NY
- Jim Kopitzke, Mesa AZ
- Joseph Lautenbach, Grand Rapids, MI
- Ben Young, Kalispell, MT
- Larry Therrien, Belchertown, MA
- Anthony H. Bledsoe, Pittsburgh, PA
- Greg Schrott, Sebring, FL
- Rob Lane, Chandler, AZ
- Nell Haberman, Portland, Oregon
- Dominic Cormier, Halifax, N.S
- Robert Furrow, Somerville, MA
- Joshua Watson, Gainesville, FL
- Gary Herbert, Rochester, New York
- Brendan Fogarty, Long Island, NY
- Andy Jones, Cleveland Heights, OH
- Paul Fusco, Mpls, MN
- Greg Zupansic, Eugene, Oregon
- Ian Davies, Medford, MA
- Sean Williams, Boston, MA
- John Hammond, Durham, NC
- Urs Geiser, Woodridge, Illinois
- Ryan Phillips, Santa Cruz
- Jason Pietrzak, Logan, UT
- Alex Dopp, Ann Arbor, MI
- Thomas Hopkins, St. Petersburg, FL
- Phil Chaon, Cleveland, OH
- Sam Koenen, Bozeman, MT
- Jonathan Comeau, Williston, VT
- Angie Hardesty, Bowling Green, KY
- David Haskell, Sewanee, TN
- Sam Burckhardt, Chicago, IL
- Rick Poulin, Ottawa, Ontario
- Richard Jeffers, Santa Clara, CA
- Jim McCarty, Lakewood, Ohio
- Patrick Belardo, Piscataway, NJ
- Shane Blodgett, Brooklyn NY
- Greg Neise, Chicago, IL
- Steven Mitten, Belize City, Belize
- Greg Gillson, Hillsboro, OR
- Steve Arlow, Rochford, Essex, England
- Robert Doster, Albuquerque, NM
- Brendan Collins, New Haven, VT
- James McKay, Mesa, AZ
- Michael Lester, Haworth, NJ
- Jeremy Medina, Tucson, AZ
- Al Guarente, Media, Pa
- Eric Huston, Tumwater, WA
- Ed Harper, Sacramento, CA
- Robert Packard, Riverside, CA
- Caleb Dunn, McAllen, Texas
- Travis Cooper, San Diego, Ca
- Glenn L. Werner, Beaufort, S.C.
- Harry Hooper, Tallahassee, Florida
- Adrian Azpiroz, St. Louis, MO
- Jason Giovannone, Columbia, SC
- Georgia Conti, Seattle, WA
- Eddie Mundall, Yreka, CA
- Jim Fitzpatrick, Hastings, MN
- Rob Fergus, Perkasie, PA
- Eleanor Proctor, Peterborough, Ontario
- Kathy Dawson, Laverne, Oklahoma
- Mark Brown, Iowa City, IA
- Alan J. Knue, Seattle, WA
- Steve Steimel, Severna Park, Md
- Matthew Schneider, Silverton, OR
- Marlene Jay Cashen, Veradale, Washington
- Paul Whiteman, London U.K.
- Michael Woodruff, Spokane, WA
- Christopher Ciccone, Woburn, MA
- Seth Cutright, West Bend, Wisconsin
- Lowell Young, Mariposa, CA
- Barb Duncan, Jefferson City, MO
- John Gluth, Brentwood, NY
- Charles Rossa, Manassas, Va
- Blake Mathys, Milltown, NJ
- Lois Lindsay, Frankford WV
- Myles Falconer, Lakefield, ONTARIO
- Rich Swartzentruber, Salem, Oregon
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.
| Little Gull |  | 137 |
| Ross's Gull | | 12 |
| Iceland Gull | | 6 |
| White-winged Tern | | 6 |
| Bonaparte's Gull | | 4 |
| Franklin's Gull | | 3 |
| Gull-billed Tern | | 3 |
| Ivory Gull | | 3 |
| Black-legged Kittiwake | | 2 |
| Glaucous-winged Gull | | 2 |
| Thayer's Gull | | 2 |
| Caspian Tern | | 1 |
| Common Tern | | 1 |
| Gyrfalcon | | 1 |
| Laughing Gull | | 1 |
| Red-Legged Kittiwake | | 1 |
| Royal Tern | | 1 |
| Sandwich Tern | | 1 |
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The photo and answer for this quiz were supplied by Chris Wood.
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