Gulls Simplified: A Comparative Approach to Identification PDF
Preview Gulls Simplified: A Comparative Approach to Identification
Pete Dunne and Kevin T. Karlson Gulls Simplifi ed A Comparative Approach to Identifi cation GS 01 pp001-031.indd 1 22/06/2018 10:15 Pete Dunne and Kevin T. Karlson Gulls Simplifi ed A Comparative Approach to Identifi cation GS 01 pp001-031.indd 2 22/06/2018 10:15 Pete Dunne and Kevin T. Karlson Gulls Simplifi ed A Comparative Approach to Identifi cation Princeton University Press Princeton and Oxford GS 01 pp001-031.indd 3 22/06/2018 10:15 DEDICATION We dedicate this book to the many gull aficionados who spend countless hours in the field studying these fascinating birds without the usual appreciation given by the general birding community for ID breakthroughs. We hope this book will change that. We also dedicate this book to our wives, Linda Dunne and Dale Rosselet, for their invaluable help and patience with this and all our previous projects. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS The authors would like to thank the following individuals for their helpful review of the text and/or photos: Michael Brothers, Rene Buccinna, Cameron Cox, Don Freiday, Paul Lehman, Derick Lovitch, Dennis Paulson, and Dale Rosselet. Special thanks to the following people for inspiring and influencing us to appreciate gulls in a new way and to bring that appreciation to this book: Harold Axtell, Amar Ayash, Michael Brothers, Cameron Cox, Jon Dunn, Steve Howell, Alvaro Jaramillo, Richard Kane, Hans Larsson, Klaus Malling Olsen, Martin Reid, Floyd P. Wolfarth. Added thanks to Jon Dunn, Steve Howell, and Houghton Mifflin Harcourt publishers for permitting us to use the excellent maps from Gulls of the Americas (2007), and to Tom Johnson for his review of the Quiz photos. A true debt of gratitude goes to Cameron Cox for his very thorough review and comments on the final draft. Copyright © 2019 by Pete Dunne and Kevin T. Karlson Editorial: Robert Kirk and Kristin Zodrow Production Editorial: Ellen Foos Requests for permission to reproduce material from this work Text Design: D & N Publishing, Wiltshire, UK should be sent to [email protected] Cover Design: Carmina Alvarez Geffen Published by Princeton University Press Jacket images (front and back) courtesy of Kevin T. Karlson 41 William Street, Princeton, New Jersey 08540 Production: Steven Sears 6 Oxford Street, Woodstock, Oxfordshire OX20 1TR Copyeditor: Laurel Anderton press.princeton.edu This book has been composed in Brandon Grotesque All Rights Reserved Photograph previous page: Franklin’s Gull, adult breeding, Texas Library of Congress Control Number: 2018930944 Printed on acid-free paper. ∞ ISBN (pbk.): 978-0-691-15694-1 Printed in China British Library Cataloging-in-Publication Data is available 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 GS 01 pp001-031.indd 4 22/06/2018 10:15 CONTENTS Basic Anatomical Terms 10 Ring-billed Gull 104 Glossary 10 Mew Gull 112 Iceland Gull 118 Glaucous Gull 129 INTRODUCTION 13 Glaucous-winged Gull 134 Overview—By Pete Dunne 13 Why This Book, Now? 16 LARGE DARK-BACKED GULLS 143 Western Gull 143 TRADITIONAL GULL ID PROBLEMS 20 Yellow-footed Gull 151 A Basic Approach to Gull ID 23 Great Black-backed Gull 155 Gulls and Gull-like Birds 28 Lesser Black-backed Gull 165 SPECIES ACCOUNTS 33 DARK HORSE GULLS (Rare or Unlikely Gulls) 177 Size and Sex Guidelines for Gulls 33 Slaty-backed Gull 177 Kelp Gull 179 SMALL TO MEDIUM-SIZED GULLS Black-tailed Gull 181 AND HOODED GULLS 35 Ivory Gull 182 Laughing Gull 35 Ross’s Gull 186 Franklin’s Gull 44 Bonaparte’s Gull 50 HYBRID GULLS 189 Black-headed Gull 58 Little Gull 64 QUIZ AND REVIEW 192 Sabine’s Gull 69 ANSWERS TO QUIZ PHOTOS 199 Black-legged Kittiwake 73 Red-legged Kittiwake 79 APPENDIX 205 Heermann’s Gull 81 BIBLIOGRAPHY 207 GRAY-BACKED WHITE-HEADED GULLS 85 PHOTOGRAPHER CREDITS 207 Herring Gull 85 INDEX 208 California Gull 96 GS 01 pp001-031.indd 5 22/06/2018 10:15 6 INTRODUCTION GREAT BLACK-BACKED GULL LESSER BLACK-BACKED GULL GLAUCOUS GULL ICELAND GULL WESTERN GULL YELLOW-FOOTED GULL (THAYER’S SUBSPECIES) BLACK-HEADED GULL HEERMANN’S GULL IVORY GULL LAUGHING GULL FRANKLIN’S GULL BONAPARTE’S GULL Shown here are twenty-two species of gulls that breed in North America, which includes one species (Iceland Gull) that has two distinct subspecies (Thayer’s and Kumlien’s subspecies). Some are rare and are encountered only in distant locations, so fewer than twenty species of GS 01 pp001-031.indd 6 22/06/2018 10:15 AHEAD 7 ICELAND GULL GLAUCOUS-WINGED GULL HERRING GULL (KUMLIEN’S SUBSPECIES) CALIFORNIA GULL RING-BILLED GULL MEW GULL BLACK-LEGGED KITTIWAKE RED-LEGGED KITTIWAKE ROSS’S GULL SABINE’S GULL LITTLE GULL gulls are regularly seen throughout North America—not so many when compared to the number of warblers or shorebirds. These gulls are shown as adults, scaled to size, and arranged to allow for direct comparisons of size, shape, and structural features as well as plumage. GS 01 pp001-031.indd 7 22/06/2018 10:15 8 INTRODUCTION GREAT BLACK-BACKED GULL LESSER BLACK-BACKED GULL GLAUCOUS GULL ICELAND GULL WESTERN GULL YELLOW-FOOTED GULL (THAYER’S SUBSPECIES) BLACK-HEADED GULL HEERMANN’S GULL IVORY GULL LAUGHING GULL FRANKLIN’S GULL BONAPARTE’S GULL These silhouettes of the gulls on the previous pages allow you to assess the differences in size, shape, and structural features more easily, since you have to use your right-brain skills to work with these gull silhouettes that have no details to analyze. GS 01 pp001-031.indd 8 22/06/2018 10:15 AHEAD 9 ICELAND GULL GLAUCOUS-WINGED GULL HERRING GULL (KUMLIEN’S SUBSPECIES) CALIFORNIA GULL RING-BILLED GULL MEW GULL BLACK-LEGGED KITTIWAKE RED-LEGGED KITTIWAKE ROSS’S GULL SABINE’S GULL LITTLE GULL GS 01 pp001-031.indd 9 22/06/2018 10:15
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