Franklin's Gull
Leucophaeus pipixcan (Wagler, 1831)
Photo © Phil Woollen - St Aidan’s, Leeds, Yorkshire, 19 May 2021
STATUS
Central North America. Monotypic.
OVERVIEW
Species not admitted nationally during the period covered (BOU 1971).
NOT PROVEN
0). 1936 Devon Exmouth, seen, 19th January.
(W. P. Lowe, Ibis 1936: 378-379).
[BOURC (1937), Ibis 79: 401-402].
History Willoughby P. Lowe (1936) in The Ibis, Vol. LXXVIII. pp. 378-379, says: 'On Sunday, 19 January, 1936, I was returning from a walk along the beach at Exmouth, where people were feeding the usual flock of Herring- and Black-headed Gulls, when I saw a bird that immediately attracted my attention. It did not mix with the others, but kept to itself. After flying about within 20 yards of me it settled on the water, and if a Black-headed Gull came near it at once drove it away. In general size and coloration it was much like the Black-headed Gull, but it differed conspicuously in having some greyish on the head, and the primaries had a very distinct black bar, which looked about two inches deep, and were tipped very plainly with white. Having possessed this species in North America, I feel there can be no doubt of its identification. I can only suppose that it had straggled across the Atlantic in company with other Gulls, following ships, and, perhaps, aided by the severe storms. I watched the bird, which was quite tame, for fully half an hour.'
BOURC (1937) in the Eleventh List Report, say: 'Mr. W. P. Lowe in the Ibis, 1936, p. 378, described a Gull which he saw in Devonshire on 19 January, 1936, and which he considered to be a specimen of Franklin's Gull, Larus pipixcan (formerly Larus franklini). The Committee consider the evidence inconclusive and insufficient to admit the bird to the British List.' (Ibis 79: 401-402).
