California Gull - Berrien Co. -11/01

[Love Creek]

Greetings,

This afternoon Chris Barrigar sent a couple photos of a bird that looks good
to me as an adult winter plumaged CALIFORNIA GULL. He observed and
photographed the bird at Tiscornia Beach Park in St. Joseph during his lunch
hour today. (Tiscornia is the public beach on the north side of the St.
Joseph River mouth.) 

He described it in his e-mail as follows: "It appeared larger than RB Gulls
present and slightly smaller than nearby Herrings. It had streaking on the
back of its neck and what appeared to be red and black on its bill
accompanied with yellow legs."

His photos confirmed the information in the second sentence. It also
appeared to be dark-eyed in the photo and slightly darker mantled than a
Ring-billed or Herring - but there were none in the photo for comparison.

Good birding,

Kip Miller