This unusual Franklin's Gull (Larus
pipixcan) was with many normal birds at Village
Creek Stirring Tanks in the Spring of 1999. I carefully studied
this individual, and the expected white feathering above/below
the eye was completely absent on both sides (there were no apparent
missing feathers - i.e. the feathers that are normally white were
instead black.) I could not detect any other signs of abnormality,
and despite seeing thousands of FRGUs every year this is the only
bird I've ever seen like this:
