Answer to PopQuiz #22: New Jersey, March

Here we have four birds on a beach in New Jersey in March. The question was how many species do we have here, and what are they? (click on the photo for a larger image)

Let’s start by saying they are all gulls due to the bill shape (although admittedly the second bird from the right does have a somewhat more delicate tern-like bill). When sorting through the gulls, it is useful to start with size. These birds fall into two size categories…the large brown one, and the other three falling into the ‘medium’ gull category. In NJ, when we see a large brown gull, the default bird is an immature Herring Gull.

Now for the ‘medium’ gulls. With these birds, I start with the wing color. These three birds nicely fall into three shades of gray. The second bird from the left has dark gray wings that easily distinguish it from the remaining two birds, along with a full dark hood. It is a Laughing Gull, just recently migrated back to NJ.  The leftmost bird has a very light wing, a full hood, and legs and bill that are noticeably redder than the remaining bird.  This is a Black-headed Gull, a nice bird to find in New Jersey.  The second bird from the right has wings that are in the middle of the gray range, and pink legs. It is a Bonaparte’s Gull.
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So we have (starting from the left), Black-headed Gull, Laughing Gull, Bonaparte’s Gull, and Herring Gull.  The lesson here is to start with size and wing color to distinguish between gulls, and then move onto details of leg and bill color. At least that is my strategy.