Birds & Birding in Costa Rica: – Costa Rica’s national motto and tourism slogan, “La Pura Vida” loosely translates to Live Life or Enjoy Life. With over 900 bird species recorded in Costa Rica, there is certainly lots to enjoy! With 12 of the world’s 18 life zones, its diverse landscapes, including tropical rainforests, cloud forests, mangroves, and savannas, provide habitat for a wide range of iconic birds A Reflections of the Natural World Blog Post Series by Jim Gain
ABOUT THIS SPECIES
FRANKLIN’S GULL – (Species Account Blog #67)
TAXONOMIC TREE:
- ORDER: Charadriiformes,
- FAMILY: Laridae,
- BINOMIAL NAME: Leucophaeus pipixcan
The Franklin’s Gull is a small, black-hooded gull that nests in small to very large colonies in marshes of interior North America. In non-breeding plumage, gray mantle (with brown centers to upperwing coverts in first winter), blackish primaries with varying degrees of white subterminal marks, white tail with gray center, and dark gray “saddle” across top of head to below eye, setting off prominent broad white nuchal collar, lores, and forehead. Adult wing-tip pattern usually characteristic with white “window” between white-spotted black wing-tips and rest of wing. Its light, buoyant flight and pinkish bloom led early ornithologists to call it the Rosy or Prairie Dove (from Birds of the World)
SIMILAR SPECIES
Unlikely to be confused with any other North American gull except Laughing Gull (Leucophaeus atricilla). General characteristics that distinguish Laughing Gull in all plumages from Franklin’s Gull include larger size and heavier body proportions, with particularly longer head, bill, and legs, and longer, more pointed wings. Laughing Gull bill is longer, thicker, and slightly drooped rather than short and straight. In Alternate I and all subsequent plumages, Franklin’s Gull may resemble Laughing Gull closely, but black on primaries is restricted and separated from remainder of wing by whitish areas (Lehman 1994a). In Definitive Alternate plumage, Franklin’s Gull also differs from Laughing Gull in having grayish (not white) central rectrices and thicker white eye-crescents.
DISTRIBUTION
PERSONAL OBSERVATION ANECDOTES
In Costa Rica we observed Franklin’s Gulls mixed in with Laughing Gulls while on the boat tour at the mouth of the Tárcoles River.
PHOTO GALLERY
**Some of these Photo Gallery images (all taken by me) have been taken in other nearby countries.
RECENT BLOG POSTS
View the five most recent Birds & Birding in Costa Rica series blog posts below.
- A Streak-headed Woodcreeper Feeds its Offspring Near the Arenal Observatory Lodge, Costa Rica
- PALE-BILLED WOODPECKER – Pura Vida Birds and Birding
- SMOKY-BROWN WOODPECKER – Pura Vida Birds and Birding
- HOFFMANN’S WOODPECKER – Pura Vida Birds and Birding
- BLACK-CHEEKED WOODPECKER – Pura Vida Birds and Birding
Reflections of the Natural World 
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