Memorandum to:                     The Director of Birds Australia

 

 

From:                                       Birds Australia Rarities Committee (BARC)

 

 

Date:                                        8th January 2007

 

 

Voting Members:                     Tony Palliser                 Glenn Holmes

Rohan Clarke                 Danny Rogers

                                                John Hatch                    Andrew Silcocks

                                                Jamie Matthew              Mike Carter

 

cc:                                            David Stewart

 

 

 

Submission No 468: Franklin’s Gull Larus pipixcan, Fraser Island, QLD., 9th May 2005. Submitted by: Graham Morgan. 

 

 

Verdict: Accepted

 

 

This submission relates to the sighting of a Franklin’s Gull in alternate (breeding) plumage seen and photographed on Fraser Island on the 9th May 2005.

 

Identification is straightforward given the clarity of the photograph and the fact the bird was in alternate plumage. The fine bill, broad white crescents above and below the eye, the pale (white) panel inside the black outer primaries, the large white tips to the outer primaries and the broad white trailing edge to the wing all combine to make a very solid case.

 

This is the 14th record of this species to be accepted by the committee.

 

 

 

References & Bibliography:

 

·         Dwight, J., (1925), ‘The Gulls (Laridae) of the World: their plumages, moults, variations, relationships and distribution’, Bull. Amer. Nat. Hist. 52: 63-401.

·         Grant, P.J., (1986), Gulls: a Guide to Identification. 2nd edn. Poyser, Calton.

·         Higgins, P.J. Davies S.J.J.F., (Eds) (1996), Handbook of Australian, New Zealand and Antarctic Birds, Vol. 3: Snipe to Pigeons, Oxford University Press, Melbourne.

 

 

 

Tony Palliser

Chairman Birds Australia Rarities Committee (BARC)