Sunday, January 8, 2012

Balanced

This is my bird of the week.  My friend Kristin and I took a walk on the Berkeley wharf and this gull asked me to take his/her picture (not sure how to tell the sex).  How old do you think this bird is?  His leg(s) is/are pink, however the beak is yellow.  And, yes, no sign of the other leg.  What a beautiful creature - very well balanced which reminds me I need to get to a yoga class since I have missed for about a week now.  In the place of yoga on Saturday, I went to acupuncture in Oakland to try an alternative for nasal allergies.  It was a very calm, quiet, and relaxing environment. And then of course, I got to experience the sounds, sights, and smells of the Berkeley waterfront.  I'm looking forward to a balanced and successful week.

General Description

California Gull - A medium-sized gull, the California Gull has the typical 'gull-like' appearance'slate-gray back and wings, white head and body, and black wingtips with white spots. The black on the wingtips is more extensive than that of other gulls. The California Gull's eye is dark, and its legs are greenish-yellow. The beak is yellow with red and black marks. Juveniles are, to varying degrees, mottled brown and white, mixed with the adult plumage, with pink legs and beak. It takes four years for California Gulls to mature. This gull is intermediate in size between the smaller Ring-billed Gull and the larger Herring Gull, both of which it resembles.
Western Gull
The Western Gull, Larus occidentalis, is a large white-headed gull that lives on the western coast of North America. It was previously considered conspecific, the same species, with the Yellow-footed Gull (Larus livens) of the Gulf of California. The Western Gull ranges from British Columbia, Canada to Baja California, Mexico,[1] and because of its convenient colonies on the coast of California it is well studied. Despite being a well-known bird species on the West Coast of the US, it is of some slight conservation concern given its restricted range (for a gull) The Western Gull is a large gull, around 60 cm long with a white head and body, and gray wings. It has a yellow bill with a red subterminal spot (this is the small spot near the end of the bill that chicks peck in order to stimulate feeding). It closely resembles the Slaty-backed Gull (Larus schistisagus). In the north of its range it forms a hybrid zone with its close relative the Glaucous-winged Gull (Larus glaucescens). Western gulls take approximately four years to reach their full plumage,[2] their layer of feathers and the patterns and colors on the feathers. The Western Gull typically lives about 15 years, but can live to at least 25 years.[citation needed] The largest Western gull colony is on the Farallon Islands, located about 26 mi (40 km) west of San Francisco, California.[3]

5 comments:

  1. the Berkeley waterfront is better known as the Berkeley Marina - oops

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  2. Oh I miss Berkeley. And I'm mixed about gulls. I think they are beautiful, too. But this summer in Cornwall, a couple was walking in St. Ives (nifty little town) just ahead of us and eating a snack. A gull attacked the woman. Gulls are huge. They grabbed her pasty, scratched her arm. She was so traumatized. It was something out of Hitchcock's "The Birds." Very scary. However, people have done that to gulls, feeding them and thinking it was cute. The gull in your photo is lovely and solitary.

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    1. Well, I have been pooped on a couple of times by gulls, so I also have mixed feelings. I guess it's just like people...some you like, some not so much. Question - when we shopped in Berkeley, was that on 4th not far from the freeway?

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  3. I was looking through a bird book and now I am confused whether this is a California Gull or a Western Gull.

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  4. Lots of gulls here inland. Most of the California gulls have their rookery or whatever its called here at Mono Lake. I can't tell one gull from another either. And that goes for sparrows, too. It's fun going out with birders when they start arguing about what type of gull it is or what type of sparrow: "But this little feather indicates it's a "mongo sparrow, not a bimbo sparrow." (made up names) I feel lucky enough to just know it's a sparrow. My big reaction is "Wow, that is such a pretty bird." Pam

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